Room 6
Ruskin's Drawings 1844-1882
There is a strong instinct in me ... to draw and describe the things I love ... a sort of instinct, like that for eating and drinking

It was Ruskin's fundamental belief that understanding came from close observation and could be enhanced by the hand copying what the eye could see. As part of his passion for observing nature and looking at art and architecture, he drew constantly. Ruskin might easily have become a professional artist, had he not been of independent means and intellectual ambition. With the exception of figures, he was skilled at most types of subject-matter: 'Architecture I can draw like an architect, and trees a great deal better than most botanists, and mountains rather better than most geologists,' he told his mother in 1845 (nos.131,142,143). His study of Turner however (no.149) had taught him his limitations, so that he became content to use drawing either as a critical tool (no.135) or for relaxation (no.165).

John Ruskin 1819 - 1900 Cascade de la Folie, Chamonix 1849 © Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery   Audio - wav file © 1999 Acoustiguide Ltd/ The Trustees of the Tate Gallery All rights reserved

Ruskin produced the majority of his drawings and watercolours to complement his own writings, particularly The Stones of Venice and the later volumes of Modern Painters. When he travelled, time was always short, and his sketches often focus intently on just one detail, leaving the remaining outlines of the composition indistinct. Though this unfinished aspect of his draughtsmanship frustrated him, it also proved to be a strength, resulting in meticulous drawings that match the most intense early works of the Pre-Raphaelites.

During the 1850s Ruskin attempted to pass on his drawing skills, initially with private pupils and then at the newly-established Working Men's College, founded in the belief that workers had as much a right to a good education as the middle classes. Ruskin believed everyone should be able to draw. He published manuals, such as The Elements of Drawing (1857), which influenced a whole generation, and which remains in print today. His presence was also deeply felt at Oxford, where he provided examples for students to copy in the years after 1869, when he was elected the first Slade Professor of Art (nos.168,171).

As a keen and well-funded collector, Ruskin took great care over the design of furniture suitable for his collections' conservation and display. In this room are examples of specially designed furniture from institutions he supported (nos.180-88). In 1878, reviewing his artistic output, Ruskin mused, 'I could have done something, if I had not had books to write.'