DOI Page / Citation link:
https://doi.org/10.11588/diglit.18975#0033
INTRODUCTION
XXVll
the form of a review of this book (1875) that Wiliiam Beli Scott
embodied the attack on Ruskin's system which has been noticed
already (above, p. xx.). Presently, however, Ruskin set to work
on recasting and rewriting 7'Ac o/* Drawing'—partly in
connexion with his teaching as Professor at Oxford, and partly as a
branch of the general scheme of teaching which he was designing for
an ideal community to be established by the St. George's Guildd
An account of these schemes belongs to a later volume of this
edition, as also does an explanation of the broken and widely-dis-
persed nature of Ruskin's activities at that time. But it is necessary
to bear both of these factors in mind when reading the new version of
7'Ag A/gTTM'yAs' o/' DrawAg', which Ruskin entitled 77? o/'Ze.wZ.
First, then, the book is a fragment. It is described on the title-
page as "Volume 1.," and no second volume was issued. For the
most part, though not entirely, the book as it stands deals with
outline; the second volume was intended to deal mainly with colour.
To it he had at one time intended to give the title 7*A^ Zaw3 o/*
jRi&o — teaching from the Rialto, the centre of old Venice, the
laws of Venetian colour, as in the first volume he teaches, from the
laws of Fesole, the laws of Etruscan and Florentine draughtsmanship.
This scheme was, however, abandoned. His later studies at Venice
took another turn, and he wrote, instead, the sketch of Venetian history,
as reflected in her art, called <SY. dZarAb Moreover, he decided
that in colour, no less than in outline, " the laws of Fesole" were
"conclusive."3 He made a large number of notes for the continuation
of 77w 7,%w.y o/* ZesoZ, but, for the most part, they are fragmentary.
A few passages are here printed in Appendix iii. (pp. 495-501).
In another respect the book is incomplete. It was intended to be
read and used in connexion with the series of Examples which Ruskin
was constantly arranging and rearranging in his Drawing School at
Oxford. In order to make these Examples more generally available, he
intended to issue, as a companion portfolio to 77h? Zanxw ZcboZ, a
series of drawing copies as folio plates. Several of these were engraved,
and were lettered "Oxford Art School Series."^ The scheme is referred
to in 7*Ag ZAboZ, at pp. 846, 369 here. But it was not brought
1 It will be noticed that Ruskin in lettering the plates for the book described them
as " Elementary Drawing " exercises for the " Schools of St. George."
^ See the Zi/e anrf IFork 0/'JoA?7 FM6'7r:'n, by W. G. Collingwood, 1900, p. 323.
3 See Vol. XIII. p. 525.
4 In December 1877 the following advertisement appeared in Mr. Allen's List :
" There will shortly be issued, in connection with this work, a Folio Series of
examples for Drawing copies, being Plates engraved from Drawings by Professor
Ruskin and others."
XXVll
the form of a review of this book (1875) that Wiliiam Beli Scott
embodied the attack on Ruskin's system which has been noticed
already (above, p. xx.). Presently, however, Ruskin set to work
on recasting and rewriting 7'Ac o/* Drawing'—partly in
connexion with his teaching as Professor at Oxford, and partly as a
branch of the general scheme of teaching which he was designing for
an ideal community to be established by the St. George's Guildd
An account of these schemes belongs to a later volume of this
edition, as also does an explanation of the broken and widely-dis-
persed nature of Ruskin's activities at that time. But it is necessary
to bear both of these factors in mind when reading the new version of
7'Ag A/gTTM'yAs' o/' DrawAg', which Ruskin entitled 77? o/'Ze.wZ.
First, then, the book is a fragment. It is described on the title-
page as "Volume 1.," and no second volume was issued. For the
most part, though not entirely, the book as it stands deals with
outline; the second volume was intended to deal mainly with colour.
To it he had at one time intended to give the title 7*A^ Zaw3 o/*
jRi&o — teaching from the Rialto, the centre of old Venice, the
laws of Venetian colour, as in the first volume he teaches, from the
laws of Fesole, the laws of Etruscan and Florentine draughtsmanship.
This scheme was, however, abandoned. His later studies at Venice
took another turn, and he wrote, instead, the sketch of Venetian history,
as reflected in her art, called <SY. dZarAb Moreover, he decided
that in colour, no less than in outline, " the laws of Fesole" were
"conclusive."3 He made a large number of notes for the continuation
of 77w 7,%w.y o/* ZesoZ, but, for the most part, they are fragmentary.
A few passages are here printed in Appendix iii. (pp. 495-501).
In another respect the book is incomplete. It was intended to be
read and used in connexion with the series of Examples which Ruskin
was constantly arranging and rearranging in his Drawing School at
Oxford. In order to make these Examples more generally available, he
intended to issue, as a companion portfolio to 77h? Zanxw ZcboZ, a
series of drawing copies as folio plates. Several of these were engraved,
and were lettered "Oxford Art School Series."^ The scheme is referred
to in 7*Ag ZAboZ, at pp. 846, 369 here. But it was not brought
1 It will be noticed that Ruskin in lettering the plates for the book described them
as " Elementary Drawing " exercises for the " Schools of St. George."
^ See the Zi/e anrf IFork 0/'JoA?7 FM6'7r:'n, by W. G. Collingwood, 1900, p. 323.
3 See Vol. XIII. p. 525.
4 In December 1877 the following advertisement appeared in Mr. Allen's List :
" There will shortly be issued, in connection with this work, a Folio Series of
examples for Drawing copies, being Plates engraved from Drawings by Professor
Ruskin and others."