Ashmolean The Elements of Drawing, John Ruskin’s teaching collection at Oxford

The initials copied in this drawing are very similar to those found in a manuscript of Walter of Châtillon's "Alexandreis" and Claudian's works, illuminated in England or France c.1200 and now in the Bodleian Library (MS Auct. F. 2. 16), and very probably originate from the same workshop, if not the same hand. They do not, however, copy any of the initials in the manuscript. The 'C' is very similar to the seven-line 'C' on folio 137 of the Bodleian manuscript, and the 'M' to the seven-line 'M's on folios 149 verso and 192 verso. (For the Bodleian manuscript, see Otto Pächt and J.J.G. Alexander, "Illuminated Manuscripts in the Bodleian Library, Oxford", vol. 3, "British, Irish, and Icelandic Schools, with Addenda to Volumes 1 and 2", Oxford (Clarendon Press): 1973, no. 299; and R.W. Hunt et al., "The Survival of Ancient Literature: Catalogue of an exhibition of Greek and Latin classical manuscripts, mainly from Oxford libraries ..", Oxford (Bodleian Library): 1975, no. 131.)