<< YCBA Home Yale Center for British Art Yale Center for British Art << YCBA Home

YCBA Collections Search

Call Number:
MSS 46
Holdings:
[Request]
Creator:
Ruskin, John, 1819–1900
Title(s):
John Ruskin letter to Ellen Heaton
Date:
1857 early February
Classification:
Archives and Manuscripts
Series:
Letters from John Ruskin to Ellen Heaton
Part of Collection:
Box 1, folder H.66
Provenance:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection, The material passed from Ellen Heaton to her nephew John Heaton, and subsequently to his brother Beresford Heaton, then to Katherine Ogilvy Heaton, and finally to Elizabeth Maud Sackville Robertson. Sold at auction, Christie, Manson & Woods, July 16, 1969 (see catalog entry no. 117).
Conditions Governing Access:
The materials are open for research.
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 tells Heaton he is uncomfortable with her having purchased "those two Calais's", as he finds the subjects of the works very similar. Ruskin proclaims "the one with the posts" "magnificent" and worth at least 100 guineas but admits that the more he reflected on the other, the less he liked it. Ruskin tells Heaton if she sends him £26.10 he can exchange the second for two drawings on blue paper, one of Ehrenbreitstein and one of Genoa. Ruskin says that drawings on blue paper are rare and that, if Heaton allowed him to make an engraving from the <title>Ehrenbreitstein</title>, it would double its value. Ruskin says if she agrees to the exchange, she must send the <title>Calais</title> by the next post or (if the next post is near) by the post after that. Heaton may send the money "at [her] leisure." Ruskin draws a line across the page, moving from A to B, stating that the width of the drawings is an inch broader than the line [the line measures 3.25 x 4.6 in., suggesting the drawings measure around 3.25 x 5.6 in.]. Ruskin notes that the drawings are worth 40 guineas each. [Date provided by Surtees: First half of February 1857]
Physical Description:
1 folded sheet (3 pages) : autograph letter signed ; 18 x 23 cm, folded to 18 x 12 cm
Genre:
Correspondence
Subject Terms:
Art
Art appreciation
Collectors and collecting
Conservation and restoration
Painters
Painting
Painting, British
Photography
Rhetoric
Subject Period:
19th century
Associated Places:
Great Britain
Associated People/Groups:
Heaton, Ellen, 1816-1894
Ruskin, John, 1819-1900
Turner, J. M. W. (Joseph Mallord William), 1775-1851
Finding Aid Title:
John Ruskin Letters to Ellen Heaton
Collection PDF:
https://ead-pdfs.library.yale.edu/5850.pdf
Archival Object:
https://archives.yale.edu/repositories/3/archival_objects/2362739
Metadata Cloud URL:
https://metadata-api.library.yale.edu/metadatacloud/api/aspace/repositories/3/archival_objects/2362739?mediaType=json&include-notes=1&include-all-subjects=1