John Ruskin

The artist and critic John Ruskin traveled frequently to Italy, studying its art and architecture and developing his own skills as a draughtsman. This sketchbook page shows a panoramic view of the hilltop Tuscan town of Siena. Despite the drawing’s small size, Ruskin carefully included the cathedral’s distinctive black-and-white marble banding patterns, a detail of Gothic architecture that he admired. For Ruskin, firsthand drawing in Italy was an opportunity to compare what he perceived as the “truth” of his own observations to the “poetry” of other artists like James Duffield Harding, from whom he had taken drawing lessons, and J.M.W. Turner.