John Ruskin

British, 1819 - 1900

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English writer and art critic (1819–1900)

Explore Selected Works

John Ruskin, Ornamental Study with Acanthus Motif for "The Stones of Venice", 1849, pen and brown ink with watercolor and graphite on wove paper, Gift of William B. O'Neal, 1995.52.158

Ornamental Study with Acanthus Motif for "The Stones of Venice"

John Ruskin · 1849 · pen and brown ink with watercolor and graphite on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1995.52.158

Sunlight pours across golden-tan colored buildings overgrown with verdant plants in this horizontal watercolor. The main two-story building is to our right on the far side of a grassy lawn. A vine creeps across its façade, and a triangular structure projects up over the front of the building, which faces away from us. A high wall extends to or left and then comes toward us. Copper-brown-leaved trees and dark green plants grow on both sides of the wall and over a shallowly peaked roof, which suggests a more substantial structure that has been lost in the growth. Slate-blue hills are glimpsed in the deep distance to the left of the wall.
John Ruskin, The Garden of San Miniato near Florence, 1845, watercolor and pen and black ink, heightened with white gouache, over graphite on wove paper laid down on thick, white paper, Patrons' Permanent Fund, 1991.88.1

The Garden of San Miniato near Florence

John Ruskin · 1845 · watercolor and pen and black ink, heightened with white gouache, over graphite on wove paper laid down on thick, white paper ·  Accession ID  1991.88.1

Two buildings nearly meet on either side of a more distant white cathedral tower in this loosely rendered watercolor drawing. The building to the right takes up two-thirds of the composition, and has a tall, pale brown roof, round-topped arches, and a section with gray engaged columns and pillars. The bottom zone is loosely sketched in with a few faint gray lines. Farthest from us, the white tower between the other two buildings has four levels of pointed arches. A spire extends from the right front corner of the tower, and the top edge of the entire structure is lined in spiky ornamentation. The third building, close to the left edge of the sheet, is a two-story wood structure with a tiled roof. The sky is painted ice blue in the narrow slivers between the buildings with some blank areas suggesting streaks of clouds. Cursive writing in graphite along the right edge of the paper reads, “Stairs and columns of Gothic arch Building.”
John Ruskin, Tower of the Cathedral at Sens, c. 1845, pen and brown ink, brush and black ink, black chalk, and watercolor over graphite on brown paper, Gift of William B. O'Neal, 1987.73.2

Tower of the Cathedral at Sens

John Ruskin · c. 1845 · pen and brown ink, brush and black ink, black chalk, and watercolor over graphite on brown paper ·  Accession ID  1987.73.2

John Ruskin, Tree Study, mid-1850s, pen and black ink with blue-gray and gray washes over graphite on wove paper, Gift of John Nichols Estabrook and Dorothy Coogan Estabrook, 1988.20.38

Tree Study

John Ruskin · mid-1850s · pen and black ink with blue-gray and gray washes over graphite on wove paper ·  Accession ID  1988.20.38