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Source Description
The most influential art critic in Britain during the 19th century, John Ruskin was also an amateur artist for whom drawing was the cornerstone of artistic practice. Since his early youth, a keen perception of the world and obsessive desire to capture nature in all of its details found expression in his drawings. In this study of a leafing sycamore in early spring, Ruskin combined exquisite detail with atmospheric rendering of space, leaving the edges of the drawing unresolved. This sheet exemplifies his belief that drawn fragments, if sensitively observed, were capable of suggesting the profound mysteries of the natural world.
Scholar Source Context
Document identity
localId
154494
label
Budding Sycamore
core
obj
dtoType
drawing
pageCount
1
Source metadata
id
154494
contentType
drawing
title
Budding Sycamore
description
The most influential art critic in Britain during the 19th century, John Ruskin was also an amateur artist for whom drawing was the cornerstone of artistic practice. Since his early youth, a keen perception of the world and obsessive desire to capture nature in all of its details found expression in his drawings. In this study of a leafing sycamore in early spring, Ruskin combined exquisite detail with atmospheric rendering of space, leaving the edges of the drawing unresolved. This sheet exemplifies his belief that drawn fragments, if sensitively observed, were capable of suggesting the profound mysteries of the natural world.
date
c. 1876
citation
rights
CC0
rightsUri
CC0
language
en
wikidata
Q79941494
creators
1277
genreSpecific
Drawing
imageCount
1
source
import
dimensionsRaw
Sheet: 34.8 x 44.8 cm (13 11/16 x 17 5/8 in.)
cul
England, 19th century
accession
1989.14
Source extras
tec
black and gray wash, gouache, and graphite
tombstone
Budding Sycamore, c. 1876. John Ruskin (British, 1819–1900). Black and gray wash, gouache, and graphite; sheet: 34.8 x 44.8 cm (13 11/16 x 17 5/8 in.). The Cleveland Museum of Art, Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund, 1989.14
supportMaterials
description
thick, moderately textured cream wove paper
collection
DR - British
inscriptions
inscription
signed and inscribed, in brown ink, at lower right: 1875 / Budding Sycamore / Sketched at Greta Bridge / 1875 / J. Ruskin
didYouKnow
This drawing was used as an illustration in John Ruskin's manual on drawing, <em>Rudimentary Studies</em>.
citations
citation
Cook, Edward Tyas and Alexander Wedderburn. <em>The Works of John Ruskin</em>. London: George Allen, 1906.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: vol. 21, pp. 291-92, vol. 38, p. 285, no. 1629
citation
Turner, Evan H. "The Year in Review: Selections 1989." <em>The Bulletin of the Cleveland Museum of Art</em> 77, no. 2 (1990): 38-78.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: p. 59, no. 181
url
www.jstor.org/stable/25160106
citation
<em>Artemis 88-89: Consolidated Audited Annual Report</em>. Annual General Meeting (January 26, 1990).
page_number
Mentioned: p. 32, no. 13
citation
Lemonedes, Heather, "Visible Spirit", Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>Cleveland Art: The Cleveland Museum of Art Members Magazine</em>. Vol. 44 no. 07, September 2004
page_number
Mentioned & reproduced: p. 6-7
citation
Lemonedes, Heather. <em>British Drawings: The Cleveland Museum of Art. </em>Exh. Cat. Cleveland, OH: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2013.
page_number
Mentioned: pp. 126-27, 148, no. 42; Reproduced: p. 147
citation
Cleveland Museum of Art. <em>The CMA Companion: A Guide to the Cleveland Museum of Art</em>. Cleveland: Cleveland Museum of Art, 2014.
page_number
Mentioned and reproduced: P. 163
creditline
Andrew R. and Martha Holden Jennings Fund
updatedAt
2026-05-29 07:59:19
sourceId
154494
dept
Drawings
coll
DR - British
med
black and gray wash, gouache, and graphite
creatorTags
male
thumbnail_url
image_url
Single page context
seq
1
pageIndex
0
type
photo
mediaId
a2130069d53531cb