John Ruskin, H.R.W.S. (1819-1900)

'The Boy of Egremont' was the son of the 12th Century warlord and Scottish prince William FitzDuncan about whom William Wordsworth wrote a poem. At Bolton, on the river Wharf at a place called the Strid, the boy was halted while leaping from one bank to the other, by the hesitation of his dog, and was pulled into the river and drowned. The attraction of Ruskin's visit was to see the site of Turner's drawing of The Boy of Egremont.

The second drawing in this lot dates from circa 1831 and can be compared with Rocks at Tunbridge Wells, (Ruskin Library and Research Centre, University of Lancaster). Ruskin was in Kent staying with the Gale family in Canterbury in May 1831 and May 1832.

We are grateful to Dr James S. Dearden and Stephen Wildman for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.