Live Auction 1545Victorian, Pre-Raphaelite & British Impressionist Art
John Ruskin, H.R.W.S. (1819-1900)
Lot 51 Property from the Collection of the late Sir Colin and Lady Anderson
Lots 51-53

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

A Dalmatian Pelican

Closed17 June 2014

Price Realised

GBP 20,000

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John Ruskin, H.R.W.S. (1819-1900)
A Dalmatian Pelican
inscribed 'Pelecanus Crispus' (lower right)
pencil heightened with white on blue paper
7 x 10 in. (17.8 x 25.4 cm.)

Mr and Mrs Arthur Severn, Brantwood.
with The Maas Gallery, London, where purchased by Sir Colin and Lady Anderson and by descent to the present owner.

Specialist note

The present drawing is associated, and was probably mounted, with a study of a Pelican's skull. In his Introduction to vol. 25 (p. liii), Cook refers to the present drawing as “one of a large number of [studies of] different birds which Ruskin made from life at the Zoological Gardens.” Ruskin is known to have worked on natural history studies from 1870 onwards, but it is difficult to date this drawing precisely.

We are grateful to Professor Stephen Wildman for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.