Ruskin's Educational series, 2nd ed. (1874)
Ruskin's revised catalogue of 300 works for the instruction of undergraduates and his notes on the use of particular examples.
Ruskin's Catalogues: 32 objects
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Enlarged Drawing of the Wing of the Angel in Rembrandt's etching of "The Angel appearing to the Shepherds" Rembrandt van Rijn
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Ruskin text
with Wing of Rembrandt’s Angel , in No. 3 J, enlarged. -
Curator’s description:
Description
The drawing shows, more-or-less stroke-for-stroke, the proper right wing of the angel hovering above the shepherds in Rembrandt's etching of "The Angel appearing to the Shepherds", made in 1643, which was in the preceding frame.
This example was first catalogued in 1871, as no. 3 K in Case X of the Educational Series, devoted to "Illustrations of Etching, Engraving, and Outline Drawing". It shared a frame with a fragment cut from Dürer's Nemesis, of Nemesis' wing. The frame was renumbered 237 in the 1874 catalogue, and is not mentioned in the 1878 reorganisatoon of the series. The Dürer was intended as a comparison to the Rembrandt, which Ruskin described in the Educational catalogues as 'an example of every kind of badness'; he hoped that his students would 'have no difficulty, in this one instance at least, in knowing good work from bad'.
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Details
- Artist/maker
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after Rembrandt van Rijn (1606 - 1669) (etcher)John Ruskin (1819 - 1900)
- Object type
- drawing
- Material and technique
- black ink and brush, with scratching out, and mounting indications in graphite, on off-white wove paper
- Dimensions
- 225 x 283 mm
- Inscription
- Recto, bottom right, in graphite (recent): E 237 below
Verso, bottom centre, the Ruskin School's stamp
- 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.ED.237.b
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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. 226
Ruskin, John, Catalogue of the Educational Series (London: Smith, Elder, 1871), cat. Educational no. X.3.K
Ruskin, John, Catalogue of the Educational Series (London: Spottiswoode, 1874), cat. Educational no. 237
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. Educational no. 237
Location
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- Western Art Print Room
Position in Ruskin’s Collection
Ruskin's Catalogues
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Ruskin's Educational series, 1st ed. (1871)
with Wing of Rembrandt’s Angel , in No. 3 J, enlarged. -
Ruskin's Educational series, 2nd ed. (1874)
with Wing of Rembrandt’s Angel, in No. 236, enlarged.
