Mountain Gorge Drawing
Entrance to Gondo Gallery
Pen and ink, approx. ? × ? cm (image only).The editors of the Library Edition
describe the image as a “a mountain gorge”
(Ruskin, Works, 2:364 n. 1).
The drawing is a copy of William Brockedonʼs chapter‐title vignette for “The Pass of the Simplon”,
The Great Gallery near Gondo,
engraved by Edward Finden, in Illustrations of the Passes of the Alps (vol. 2, “The Pass of the Simplon ”, title page).
According to Ruskinʼs List of Proposed Additional Contents for the Account of a Tour on the Continent,
he destined this drawing for a section entitled “Farewell to Italy”,
referring to the crossing into Switzerland via the Simplon Pass.
Along with the vignette, a copy of another plate from Brockedonʼs Simplon chapter,
Val dʼOssola from the Defile of the Dovedro, were to be placed
in reverse order from their appearance in the Illustrations,
since the Ruskinsʼ itinerary carried them in the opposite direction from Brockedonʼs imagined traveler.
Brockedon dwells on “les belles horreurs of the Simplon”,
particularly the narrow Gondo Gorge, where several dramatic features converge to form the scene in the vignette:
“the rocky and perpendicular bases of the mountains approach more closely,
leaving only space for the road and the foaming torrent [of the Diveria River], which the latter in some places entirely usurps;
and in such places the road is carried through galleries cut in the rocks. . . . [T]he wonder of this part of the road is the great gallery, which is formed just below the place
where a bridge leads from the right to the left bank of the Dovedro [i.e., Diveria]. The ravine appears to be closed in,
and the only passage is by one of the most stupendous works ever accomplished—a gallery, cut through the granite,
596 English feet long, which at the opening on the Italian side crosses the waterfall of the Frassinone:
this torrent, falling from a great height, rushes through the bridge thrown across it, and descends above 100 feet into the Dovedro, where the latter river,
forming a cataract, meets the waters of the Frassinone in horrible commotion: it is a spot unrivalled in its astonishing effect”
(Brockedon, Illustrations of the Passes of the Alps (vol. 2, “The Pass of the Simplon ”, 12;
see also Ebel, Travellerʼs Guide through Switzerland, 84–85,
in which the river forming the cataract is also named the Alpirnbach—today, the Alpjerbach and Alpjerfall).
Unascribed Drawing 2 of 8 for Account of a Tour on the Continent (MS IX)
Vignette after “Ancient Fortress and Rocky peak / Above the vale of Balstall”
Pen and ink, approx. ? × ? cm (image only).The editors of the Library Edition
describe the image as “mountain heights, a castle on one”
(Ruskin, Works, 2:364 n. 1).
The drawing is a vignette based on an original drawing by Ruskin, which he entitled
“Ancient Fortress and Rocky peak. / Above the vale of Balstall, Jura”,
and which is one of two sketches on the sheet Balsthal; Mont Blanc from Geneva,
Ruskin Library, Lancaster. “Ancient Fortress and Rocky peak”
is reproduced in Walton, Drawings of John Ruskin (p. 15).
According to Ruskinʼs Plan for Continuation of the Account of a Tour on the Continent,
he intended a section entitled “Balstall”, falling between the sections
“Rhine” and “Neufchatel”,
and it was to be illustrated by a scene that could well refer to this drawing: “Fortress. View of Alps”.
See List of Proposed Additional Contents: Balstall; see also
Account of a Tour on the Continent: Missing and Unidentified Drawings for the Composite‐Genre Illustrated Travelogue (MS IX) and Related 1833 Tour Sketches;
and Drawings from the Tour of 1833.
The location is Balsthal, in the canton of Solothurn,
Switzerland. Of the two castles in the valley, this drawing apparently represents the
Neu‐Falkenstein Castle. In his 1838
guidebook to Switzerland, John Murray III comments on these
“imposing ruins of the Castle of Falkenstein,
surmounted by its circular Donjon, [which] rise midway between the two roads to
Bâle [i.e., Basel],
by the Hauenstein and by the Passwang
[i.e., two mountain passes in the Jura] which unite here. This position gave to its ancient owners
the powers of levying blackmail upon each of these passes. It belonged at one time to Rudolph von Wart,
who was broken on the wheel for his share in the murder of the [Habsburg] Emperor Albert [i.e., Albrecht I (ca. 1250–1308)],
and was consoled in his agony by the presence and fortitude of his wife”
(Hand‐book for Travellers in Switzerland, 9–10).
The fortitude of the assassinʼs wife at the scene of his torture is memorialized by Felicia Hemans
in an 1826 poem, “Gertrude, or Fidelity till Death”,
collected in Records of Woman: With Other Poems (1828).
Susan Wolfson points out that Hemans depicts Albrechtʼs death in another poem of the period,
“A Monarchʼs Death‐Bed” in Friendshipʼs Offering: A Literary Album (1826), 1–2.
See Hemans, Selected Poems, ed. Wolfson, 356–58.
In the latter poem, Albrechtʼs sole comforter is a peasant woman on the riverbank where he was murdered.
For the political significance of this regicide respecting the alliances among Swiss communities on the one hand, and dynastic rivalries on the other,
see Church and Head, Concise History of Switzerland, 25).
In 1798, Neu‐Falkenstein Castle was burned by peasants under the leadership of Johann Brunner (“Rössli Jean”)
at the start of the Helvetic Revolution, when French Revolutionary troops invaded Switzerland
with the aim of establishing a sister Helvetic Republic.
River Drawing
River Drawing
Pen and ink, approx. ? × ? cm (image only). The editors of the Library Edition describe the image as “a river between steep banks, snow mountains in the distance” (Ruskin, Works, 2:364 n. 1). The intended location and a possible original image that Ruskin may have copied are unknown. Note that the drawingʼs width requires it to have been affixed to MS IX broadside; this drawing, therefore, like Liège, could not have accommodated text on the same page.Mountain Scene with Chalet Drawing
Mountain Scene (Alps?) with Chalet
Pen and ink, approx. ? × ? cm (image only).The editors of the Library Edition
describe the image as “a mountain scene, châlet in foreground”
(Ruskin, Works, 2:364 n. 1).
The original image that Ruskin may have copied is unknown, but evidence in the
List of Proposed Additional Contents for the “Account” (Table 2, Illustrations)
for the section “Strasburg”
suggests that this drawing may correspond to a proposed illustration that Ruskin entitled “The swiss cottages”.
The connection between Swiss cottages and Strasbourg in Ruskin's mind is the opening to the Black Forest. His poem
“Oh the morn looked bright on hill and dale”
focuses on the departure from Strasbourg and Kehl, leading into the Black Forest through the valley of the Kinzig River where it empties into the Rhine;
and his essay “It was a wide and stretchy sweep of lovely blue champaign”
marks the family's first view of that "celebrated thing", the "Swiss cottage". They were in fact encountering the architecture of the Black Forest house,
not the Alpine chalet, but British guidebooks similarly encouraged the perception of the Black Forest as "Swiss" in character (see the contextual glosses attached to
“Oh the morn looked bright on hill and dale”).
Whatever the source of Ruskin's drawing, it appears to depict an Alpine scene, not the Black Forest.
Mountain Scene with Boulder
Mountain Scene with Boulder Drawing
Pen and ink, approx. ? × ? cm (image only). The editors of the Library Edition describe the image as “a mountain scene” (Ruskin, Works, 2:364 n. 1). The foreground is taken up by a large boulder and a pine. Approaching the declivity between these obstacles, a male figure, accompanied by a dog, carries a bundle on his shoulder. The intended location and a possible original image that Ruskin may have copied are unknown. On the same page, the drawing is pasted above another drawing, Lake Scene with Building on Piers; however, no connection between the drawings is evident, except for their similar, comparatively small rectangular shapes, which made their pairing convenient.Lake Scene with Building on Piers
Lake Scene with Building on Piers
Pen and ink, approx. ? × ? cm (image only). The editors of the Library Edition describe the image as “a lake with a house on piers islanded on it” (Ruskin, Works, 2:364 n. 1). The lake is surrounded by mountains, and the building on piers is surrounded by two sailboats and a rowboat with passengers. Vaguely sketched figures appear to stand or lean inside the balustrade enclosing the first story of the building, which is tall and narrow with two high windows. Its peaked roof is pierced by dormers, from one of which a pole extends hung with ragged banners or cloths. On the same page, the drawing is pasted below another drawing, Mountain Scene with Boulder Drawing; however, no connection between the drawings is evident, except for their similar, comparatively small rectangular shapes, which made their pairing convenient.Lakeside with Terraced Villa [drawing]
Lakeside with Terraced Villa Drawing (Isola Bella?)
Pen and ink, approx. ? × ? cm (image only).The editors of the Library Edition
describe the image as “a lake‐side, with terraced gardens, hills behind”
(Ruskin, Works, 2:364 n. 1).
The image strongly suggests a view of Isola Bella in Lago Maggiore,
facing the end of the island where the terraced gardens rise from the level of the lake. The drawing shows the vertical cypresses and statues
decorating the terraces, and the horizontal arched wall extending to the right of the terraces. According to the
List of Proposed Additional Contents for the “Account”—Illustrations),
Ruskin intended a drawing of Isola Bella for the proposed section of the work entitled
“Domo dʼOssola”.
On one day of their tour, the Ruskins traveled to this mountain town from the island in Lago Maggiore.
(For the Ruskinsʼ visit to the gardens on Isola Bella, see the entry with gloss for
“Domo dʼOssola” in
the Proposed Additional Contents.)
Of course, Ruskin may have meant the drawing for another villa. According to Mary Richardson,
while staying at Cadenabbia, the Ruskins visited a number of villas on Lake Como where they admired terraced gardens extending down to the lakeside,
such as Villa Sommariva, Villa Pliniana, and Villa Melzi
(Diary of Mary Richardson, 1833, 43–45). None of these seems likely, however, to have suggested a view
oriented away from the villa itself and presenting only the terraces of the garden—a view unique to an island villa like Isola Bella, where the visitor can circle around the structures.
Mountain Aiguilles Drawing