Ruskin's Catalogue of Examples (1870)
Ruskin's first catalogue with notes containing his plans for the Standard, Reference and Educational series.
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13. Egyptian drawings of birds.Rosellini, tom. ii. pl. 11, No. 2; and pl. 9, No. 13.
Measure and draw the outlines of these lightly, but most carefully, with pencil. Then, when the outlines are black, go over them with pen and Indian ink; when red, with vermilion; and lay the flat colours so as not to disturb the outlines, retouching them afterwards when necessary. All these exercises are for precision, and are only for somewhat advanced students.
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14. Egyptian chair.Rosellini, Tavole, tom. ii. pl. 90, No. 6.
Try, at all events, to do some portion of this example. It is coloured by hand, and will give you simple but severe discipline in laying flat colour in small portions.
And now, note that there are two distinct modes of excellence in laying water-colour. Its own speciality is to be mixed with much water, and laid almost as a drop or splash on the paper, so that it dries evenly and with a sharp edge. When so laid, the colour takes a kind of crystalline bloom and purity as it dries, and is as good in quality as a tint of the kind can be. The two little drawings of Turner’s, 45 and 46 , and nearly all his early work, are laid with transparent colour in this way. The difference between good painting and bad painting in this manner, is, that a real painter is as careful about the outline of the tint, laid liquid, as if it were laid thick or nearly dry, while a bad painter lets the splash outline itself as it will.
The exercises from Egyptian furniture and dress are intended to cure you at once of any carelessness of this kind. They are to be laid with perfectly wet colour, so that the whole space you have to fill, large or small, is to be filled before any of the colour dries; and yet you are never to go over the outlines. The leaf exercises (41 B, C, and D) are easier practice of the same kind. You had better do them first, though they are put, for other reasons, with the more advanced series. The white nautilus shell (47 C) is entirely painted with small touches of very wet colour of this kind, in order to get as much transparency into the structure of the tint as is possible. So also the shadows of the piece of sculpture (25). The exquisitely skilful drawing of Prout’s interior (29, right hand), owes much of its effect of light to the perfect flatness of the wet tints; and the character of the crumbling stone in the gable of Amiens (24) is entirely got by using the colour very wet, and leaving its dried edge for an outline when it is needed.
The simplest mode of gradating tints laid in this manner, when they extend over large spaces, is by adding water; but a good painter can gradate even a very wet tint by lightness of hand, laying less or more of it, so that in some places it cannot be seen when it ends. The beautiful light on the rapid of the Tees (S. 2) is entirely produced by subtlety of gradation in wet colour of this kind.
But, secondly, by painting with opaque colour, or with any kind of colour ground so thick as to be unctuous, not only the most subtle lines and forms may be expressed, but a gradation obtained by the breaking or crumbling of the colour as the brush rises from the surface—a quality all good painters delight in.
For all the exercises, therefore, which consist of lines to be drawn with the brush, prepare a mixture of Indian red with violet carmine, of a full, dark, and rich consistence. Fill your brush with it; then press out on the palette as much as will leave the brush not heavily loaded, and with a nice point, and then draw the line slowly; at once, if possible; but where it fails, re-touch it, the object being to get it quite even throughout, whether thin or thick. It may be thickened when you miss a curve, to get it right, and it may taper to nothing when it vanishes in ribs of leaves, &c.; but it must never be made thin towards the light, and thick towards the dark, side. It expresses only the terminations of form, not the lighting of it.
I have left my lines, in nearly every case, with their mistakes and re-touchings unconcealed, and have not tried always to do them as well as I could; so that I think you will generally be able to obtain an approximate result.
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14 B. Egyptian chair.Rosellini, Tavole, tom. ii. pl. 90, No. 3.
Draw the curves carefully, and a piece of the pattern.
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15. Egyptian head-dress. B, C, &c., the same. See for these and No. 16, Rosellini, tom. i. plates 7, 10, and 22.
Measure and draw these first with pencil; then, if you are able, with fine brush, or with pen and Indian ink, if the brush is unmanageable to you.
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16. Egyptian costume.
B, C, &c., the same. Rosellini, Tavole, tom. i. pl. 27.
Draw the spotted head-dress of 16 very carefully, observing how pleasantly grouped and varied the spots are; in vulgar work they would be placed without thought. The more you can copy of these figures the better, always measuring with precision.
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Letter of twelfth century Norman MS., showing the terminations of conventional foliage which develope afterwards into the finest forms of capital.
You cannot find better practice, after gaining some firmness of hand, than in endeavouring to copy rich letters of this period; the pen lines are always superb, and the colour delicate and simple: and all study of Gothic sculpture must begin by obtaining accurate knowledge of the forms of ornamentation developed in the twelfth century. I will arrange, in connection with these letters, a series of enlarged examples, for advanced practice; but they would be too difficult for present service.
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17 B. Another letter of the same class.
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18. Letters of early thirteenth century, of fine style.
14.
17.
The examples from 17 to 20 are merely given as types of style, and standards of execution, for students who may previously have interested themselves in illumination: until I can add their illustrative sequels, they are useless for beginners.
They are copied from various MSS. in the British Museum; Nos. 19, 19 B, and 20, which are almost inimitable in execution, are by my late assistant, Mr. J. J. Laing; the rest by others of my pupils.
- 19. Illumination of late thirteenth century, somewhat inferior in style and invention of decorative line, but very perfect in finish and in treatment of figures.
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lllumination of early fourteenth century. Finest style of that time; partly unfinished; showing the way in which the work was executed by the early illuminators.
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20 B. Study of Chinese enamel.
The Oriental colour is more subtle than the Gothic; but the want of power over form indicates total inferiority of intellect and general art capacity. Compare the bird, here, with the perfect though quaint delineation of the Egyptians (13).
This example may serve to remind you of the general principle for good colour which is stated in my Elements of Drawing:Make the white precious, and the black conspicuous.
