Ruskin's Rudimentary series, 3rd ed. (1872)
Items marked 'M' are drawings "by my own Hand" (by Ruskin), P are photographs, E engravings and A by Ruskin's Assistant, Arthur Burgess.
Ruskin's Catalogues: 1 object
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Sketch of the Oak Spray in Mantegna's Fresco of "The Martyrdom of Saint James" in the Church of the Eremitani, Padua John Ruskin
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Ruskin text
286.We are now able to understand a piece of real ornamental Foliage by a great Master. This spray of Oak is the extremity of a branch of Mantegna in the Frescoes at Padua. It is painted with a free hand just as easily as a good draughtsman writes, but every leaf, down to its smallest lobe, is arranged in ornamental relations as strict as those of the leafage on a Greek coin. (Compare Educational Series No. 30 .) But Mantegna always thought more of his Classical Masters than of Nature, and therefore this spray, though perfect as a Composition, is not quite perfect as a piece of Oak.
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Details
- Artist/maker
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John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)after Andrea Mantegna (1430/31 - 1506)
- Object type
- drawing
- Material and technique
- watercolour and black chalk over graphite on Whatman wove paper
- Dimensions
- 392 x 279 mm
- Inscription
- Recto, bottom left, in graphite, R298
- Provenance
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Presented by John Ruskin to the Ruskin Drawing School (University of Oxford), 1875; transferred from the Ruskin Drawing School to the Ashmolean Museum, c.1949.
- No. of items
- 1
- Accession no.
- WA.RS.RUD.298
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Subject terms allocated by curators:
Subjects
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References in which this object is cited include:
References
Taylor, Gerald, ‘John Ruskin: A Catalogue of Drawings by John Ruskin in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford’, 7 fascicles, 1998, Oxford, Ashmolean Museum, no. 138
Ruskin, John, The Ruskin Art Collection at Oxford: Catalogue of the Rudimentary Series, in the Arrangement of 1873, ed. Robert Hewison (London: Lion and Unicorn Press, 1984), cat. Rudimentary no. 298, RUD.298
Ruskin, John, Catalogue of Examples Arranged for Elementary Study in the University Galleries (Oxford: Clarendon Press, 1870), cat. Educational no. 12.B
Ruskin, John, Instructions in Practice of Elementary Drawing, Arranged with Reference to the First Series of Examples in the Drawings Schools of the University of Oxford (n.p., [1872]), cat. Rudimentary no. 298
Ruskin, John, Instructions in the Preliminary Exercises Arranged for the Lower Drawing-School (London: Smith, Elder, 1872), cat. Rudimentary no. 298
Ruskin, John, Instructions in the Preliminary Exercise Arranged For the Lower Drawing-School (London: Spottiswoode, 1873), cat. Rudimentary no. 298
Ruskin, John, ‘Rudimentary Series 1878’, 1878, Oxford, Oxford University Archives, cat. Rudimentary no. 286
Ruskin, John, ‘The Ruskin Art Collection at Oxford: Catalogues, Notes and Instructions’, Edward T. Cook and Alexander Wedderburn, eds, The Works of John Ruskin: Library Edition, 39 (London: George Allen, 1903-1912), 21, cat. Rudimentary no. 298
Location
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- Western Art Print Room
Position in Ruskin’s Collection
Ruskin's Catalogues
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Ruskin's Catalogue of Examples (1870)
12 B. Sketch of the action of leaves in Mantegna’s oak tree, at the top of S. 35. -
Ruskin's Rudimentary series, 3rd ed. (1872)
R|298} Sketch in pen and pencil, from Edu. 2 F, showing treatment of foliage in light on dark. M. -
Ruskin's Rudimentary series 4th ed. (1872)
R|298} Sketch in pen and pencil, from Edu. 2 F, showing treatment of foliage in light on dark. M. -
Ruskin's Rudimentary series, 5th ed. (1873)
R|298} Sketch in pen and pencil, from Edu. 2 F, showing treatment of foliage in light on dark. M. -
Ruskin's revision to the Rudimentary series (1878)
286.We are now able to understand a piece of real ornamental Foliage by a great Master. This spray of Oak is the extremity of a branch of Mantegna in the Frescoes at Padua. It is painted with a free hand just as easily as a good draughtsman writes, but every leaf, down to its smallest lobe, is arranged in ornamental relations as strict as those of the leafage on a Greek coin. (Compare Educational Series No. 30 .) But Mantegna always thought more of his Classical Masters than of Nature, and therefore this spray, though perfect as a Composition, is not quite perfect as a piece of Oak.
