March 6, 2022

The Nature Studies of John Ruskin

Snake’s-Head Fritillary

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Fleur-de-Lys (‘Iris Florentina’)

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

A Snake’s-Head Fritillary

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of Wild Rose

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Portuguese Narcissus

Lancaster University

Ferns on a Rock

The Ruskin

Primroses

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Wood Anemones

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Mountain Campanula

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of Harebells

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of Foreground Material. Finished Sketch in Water-Colour, from Nature

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of a Piece of Brick, to show Cleavage in Burnt Clay

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Stone Pines at Sestri, Gulf of Genoa

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Autumnal Cloud filling the Valley of Geneva, the Jura rising out of it, seen from the Brezon above Bonneville

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Mont Blanc from Saint-Martin-sur-Arve

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Mountain study: view of the Alps (Aiguilles near Chamonix)

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Mountain study: view of the Alps

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Landscape study

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Landscape study

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Drawing of an Egyptian Painting of a Bird

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of ivy stalk

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Enlarged Drawing of a Primrose Leaf

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Drawing of a Branch of Oak from Cima’s ‘Saint John the Baptist with Saints Peter, Mark, Jerome and Paul’

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of spiral Growth in outer Sprays of Oak

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Sow Thistle

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Sow Thistle

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Quick Study of Leaf Contour: Bramble

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Quick Sketch of a Strawberry Leaf

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Profile of a Violet Leaf, enlarged

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Enlarged Outline of a Violet Leaf, with a life-size Leaf below

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Drawing of the Outline of Hare’s-tail Cottongrass (Eriophorum vaginatum), from the Engraving in the Floræ Danicæ

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Sketch of a Wood Anemone

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of an Ear of Wheat: Side View, magnified

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Enlarged Studies of the Feathers of a Kingfisher’s Wing and Head, and a Study of a Group of the Wing Feathers, real Size

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Feather of a Kingfisher’s Back, enlarged

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Enlarged Drawing of the Extremity of a Kingfisher’s Wing Feather

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of a Kingfisher, with dominant Reference to Shade

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of a Kingfisher, with dominant Reference to Colour

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Sketch of the head of a living lion

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of a Shell

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Recto: Enlarged Study of the Tail of a Sea-horse Verso: A rough Outline of the Tail of a Sea-horse

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Recto: Study of the Sea-horse of Venice Verso: Partial Diagram showing a Construction for Placing the Honour-Points on a Shield

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study in Colour of Quartz Rock Weathered

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

A growing Shoot of Box

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Growing Shoot of Mock Privet (Phillyrea), seen in Profile

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The Dryad’s Waywardness: Oak Spray in Winter, seen in Front

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The Dryad’s Toil: Oak Spray in Winter, seen in Profile

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

First Shoots of Wild Rose in Spring

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Enlarged Outlines of the first Shoots of Wild Strawberry in Spring

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of a Stem of Agrimony

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of a Paper Nautilus Shell

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

An Exercise on the Colour of a common Snail-Shell

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Recto: Study of the Plumage of a Partridge Verso: Sketch of a Landscape with Trees

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The Head of a common Golden Eagle, from Life

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

The Head of a Kite, from Life

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Drawing of a red parrot and plant from Carpaccio’s ‘Saint George baptises the Selenites’

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Sketch of the Oak Spray in Mantegna’s Fresco of ‘The Martyrdom of Saint James’ in the Church of the Eremitani, Padua

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of Part of the Trees in Turner’s ‘Crossing the Brook’

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of Foreground Material: Finished Sketch in Watercolour from Nature

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Finished Study of Agrimony Leaves

Study of Young Leaves of Plane, in Light and Shade

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of a Velvet Crab

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Laurel Leaf, seen Underneath and in Profile

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Profile of a Cobra, drawn from Life

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Outline of Leaves of Oak, touched with Colour

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Sketch of a few Leaves in the Background of Botticelli’s ‘Primavera’

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Three Studies of Narcissus ('Field Narcissus of the Alps') — Three Studies of Narcissus (‘Field Narcissus of the Alps’)

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford (image)

Houseleek

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Drawing of a Branch of Oak from Cima’s ‘Saint John the Baptist with Saints Peter, Mark, Jerome and Paul’

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Ilex

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Asphodel (‘Wild Hyacinth of Jura’)

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Four Studies of Gooseberry-blossom

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Cowslip Bells — Cowslip Bells

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Ivy-Leaved Toadflax (‘Oxford Ivy’)

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Four Studies of Clover Blossoms

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

A Wild Strawberry Plant

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Enlarged Drawing of Apollo’s Laurel Sceptre in the Engraving from the so-called ‘Mantegna Tarocchi’

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Study of Harebells

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

Wood Sorrel (Oxalis acetosella)

Lancaster University

Quick Sketch of a Strawberry Leaf

© University of Oxford – Ashmolean Museum

Study of a portion of a tree with ivy and other trailing plants

Fitzwilliam Museum

Study of a quatrefoil fringed gentian

Lancaster University

Ajuga repens

Lancaster University

Milk Thistle

The Ruskin

Study of a Sprig of Myrtle

Stephen Ongpin Fine Art

A Cluster of Oak Leaves

Eight Studies of a Primrose

Vevey, Lake Geneva

Birmingham Museums

Study of Moss, Fern and Wood-Sorrel, upon a Rocky River Bank

Credit: Hazel Drummond / Collection Guild of St George / Museums Sheffield

Oxalis and heather

Christie’s

Study of an Oak Leaf

Yale Center for British Art

Frozen Seaweed

The Ruskin

Study of a Lettuce Thistle

The Ruskin

Studies of Thistles

The Ruskin

Ravine at Maglans, Valley of Cluse

The Ruskin

Acanthoid Leaves (Marsh Thistle)

The Ruskin

Buttercup Leaf

The Ruskin

Study of Gneiss Rock, Glenfinlas

© Ashmolean Museum, University of Oxford

A Branch of Flowering Peach

Harvard Art Museums

Relevant Reading

Unto This Last and Other Writings by John Ruskin and Clive Wilmer

Stones of Venice by John Ruskin

The Elements of Drawing by John Ruskin

To See Clearly: Why Ruskin Matters by Suzanne Fagence Cooper

The Ruskin Revival: 1969-2019 by Suzanne Fagence Cooper

Praeterita and Dilecta by John Ruskin

The Poetry of Architecture by John Ruskin

The Seven Lamps of Architecture by John Ruskin

The Works of John Ruskin by Edward Tyas Cook

John Ruskin: Artist and Observer by Christopher Baker, Ian Jeffrey, Christopher Newall and Conal Shields

Nature’s Covenant: Figures of Landscape in Ruskin by C. Stephen Finley

Unto This Last: Two Hundred Years of John Ruskin by Tara Contractor, Victoria Hepburn, Judith Stapleton, Courtney Skipton Long, Tim Barringer

The Art of Ruskin and the Spirit of Place by John Dixon Hunt

Ruskinland: How John Ruskin Shapes Our World by Andrew Hill

Ruskin, Turner & the Storm Cloud by Suzanne Fagence Cooper and Richard Johns

Ruskin, Turner, and the Pre-Raphaelites by Robert Hewison, Ian Warrell, Stephen Wildman