John Ruskin: 12 works

'This meticulous copy is said to be by Ruskin himself (although the treatment of figures, especially the facial features, is comparable with the work of his favoured copyist Angelo Alessandri). Ruskin thought the mosaics of St. Mark's "the bible of old Venice", and determined to have records made of them when they were under threat of wholesale replacement in the late 1870s: this desecration was later halted.'

'The contrast of the Venetian master's rich, powerful works with the refined Tuscan art Ruskin had previously been studying was dramatic. After his first visit to the Scuola di San Rocco in Venice on 24 September 1845, Ruskin confessed to his father that "I never was so utterly crushed to the earth before any human intellect as I was today, before Tintoret".'

'If that isn't a master's stroke, I don't know what is". Again, Ruskin noted how Tintoretto had "filled his picture with such various and impetuous exertion, that the body of the Crucified is, by comparison, in perfect repose" (Works of John Ruskin V4.Pg270-71).'

'Le Keux as Plate 40 of Modern Painters, volume IV (1856), where Ruskin describes how a "wall of upper precipice rises from the pasture land, and frets the sky with glowing serration."'

'Ruskin’s diary for August 1849 records many ascents onto the glaciers around Chamonix, led by the local guide Joseph Couttet. In his diaries and other forms of documentation – sketches, drawings and paintings - geological and visual observations are interlinked.'

'During the visits of 1849-50 and 1851-52 Ruskin spent two winters collecting material for The Stones of Venice, a work which proved to be very influential within the development of Victorian architecture. This architectural notebook, known as the 'Door Book,' is one of the series of ten which Ruskin used to record details and measurements of aspects of architectural features, carefully cross referencing them with worksheets and drawings.'

'This architectural notebook, known as the 'N Book,' is the earliest in the series of ten which Ruskin used to record details and measurements of aspects of architectural features, carefully cross referencing them with worksheets and drawings.'

'This watercolour illustrates the kind of naturalism Ruskin championed in the work of the Pre-Raphaelites. The approach is similar that of Millais in his celebrated portrait of Ruskin at Glenfinlas, painted the following year.'

'This is a faithful view of the wall linking the Dachliturm, in the centre, with the Allenwindenturm beyond, and may have be that from the Schweizerhof, Ruskin's favoured hotel.'

'In a letter to Charles Eliot Norton he said his intention was to make "pencil outline drawings from general scenes", to round out the original text and thereby perhaps make it more appealing to the general reader. He also gave a sense of personal retrieval of happier past experience -- or of simple nostalgia -- by adding: "I will make new drawings giving some notion of my old memories of the place, in Turner's time" This drawing is probably identifiable as one exhibited at the Fine Art Society in 1878, under the title View of the Upper Reach of the Grand Canal, looking north, and -- (given up in despair).'

'This may reflect the frequent distraction and depression suffered during his stay: a similar drawing was exhibited at the Fine Art Society in 1878, under the title View of the Upper Reach of the Grand Canal, looking north, and -- (given up in despair).'

'The Byzantine carving of stylised peacocks, at the top left, also meant much to him, as the motif used to embellish the covers of The Stones of Venice.'