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

The lithograph shows Selene standing behind the two winged horses which draw her chariot. The moon's disc appears above her head, and stylised fruit-laden branches can be seen behind her; these may be the apple-trees of the Hesperides. It reproduces the decoration of a black-figure vase, copied after an illustration by the Comte Alexandre de Laborde. It was plate CXVI in the second volume of Lenormant and de Witte's "Elite des monuments céramographiques", published in 1857. It was presumably taken from Ruskin's copy of the work now preserved in the Ruskin Library (inventory no. 1996B2621), which is missing many of its plates.

The print was catalogued by Ruskin in the "Catalogue of Examples" of 1870, as no. 23 F in the Educational Series, entitled "Selene, rising full", alongside other plates of Apollo and Selene from Lenormant and de Witte. However, it did not reappear in any of his subsequent catalogues.

In his catalogue entry (actually appearing below no. 23 G), Ruskin said that he thought the figure might actually be Helios. He also wondered why the apples of the Hesperides had been included, as they seemed inconsistent with either Selene rising in the east; or the sunset, when Helios's horses should have been shown descending. He concluded that they simply expressed Selene's dominion over the night.