With a refined and pared down palette, Ruskin depicts his subject in actual size. As is characteristic of these studies from nature, which date to the late 1860s and early 1870s, Ruskin has taken immense care to record every detail of the shell, possibly an ark clam, in thick bodycolor and translucent watercolor.
The inscription indicates that William Ward, one of Ruskin's most talented pupils at the Working Men's College in London, once owned this sheet.
We are grateful to Professor Stephen Wildman for his help when cataloguing this lot.