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Call Number:
MSS 37
Holdings:
Accessible by appointment in the Study Room [Request]
Title(s):
John Ruskin letter to John Henry Le Keux
Date:
between 1855 and 1856?
Classification:
Archives and Manuscripts
Part of Collection:
volume 1, page 9-12
Provenance:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Conditions Governing Access:
The collection is open without restriction.
Conditions Governing Use:
Copyright Undetermined

The collection is the physical property of the Yale Center for British Art. Literary rights, including copyright, belong to the authors or their legal heirs and assigns. For further information, consult the Archives Department.
Scope and Content:
Ruskin says he has another plate for Le Keux which he will send after finishing a "tiresome etching." He instructs Le Keux to alter a plate of "Claude boughs" by lightening it and rounding it. [Possibly Plate 2, Drawing of Tree Stems, or Plate 4, Ramifications According to Claude, in Modern Painters Vol. III]. He goes on to say that Le Keux has "a good deal missed the character" of works by Claude Lorrain and draws a sketch [measuring 3.5 x 9.4 cm] of how Ruskin believes Claude draws boughs. Ruskin then includes a sketch [measuring 2.7 x 6 cm] of how he believes Le Keux has rendered the boughs. Ruskin then sketches a two-pronged table fork [sketch measures 0.9 x 5.4 cm], indicating that Claude's boughs resemble the bended head of the fork. Ruskin tells Le Keux to let him know if he can "recover" the boughs, "for, if not, [he] must cancel this plate and get it etched and mezzotinted in Claude's way, for though [he] think[s] the trunks improved by the change, the public will say [they] have travestied Claude." He ends by saying that he has no desired changes for the other plates.
Physical Description:
4 pages : autograph letter, signed ; 18 x 11 cm
Genre:
Correspondence , Photographs, Albumen prints, and Drawings (visual works)
Subject Terms:
Engravers
Engraving
Illustration of books
Ruskin, John, 1819-1900. Modern painters
Ruskin, John, 1819-1900. Oxford Museum
Associated Places:
Great Britain
Associated People/Groups:
Acland, Henry W. (Henry Wentworth), 1815-1900
Le Keux, John Henry, 1812-1896
Lorrain, Claude, 1600-1682
Ruskin, John, 1819-1900
Turner, J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William), 1775-1851
Finding Aid Title:
John Ruskin letters to John Henry Le Keux
Collection PDF:
https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/11772.pdf
Archival Object:
https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/3449673
Metadata Cloud URL:
https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/3449673?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1