INTRODUCTION lxxi

crafts. “Singularly enough among all the antiquarian collections in London, accessible to the public, there were none which included a good assortment of casts from decorative sculpture, and the few which did exist were almost exclusively taken from classic and Italian examples. The advisability of securing such objects for the inspection and study, not only of young architects, but of art-workmen, became apparent to all who knew how much the success of modern Gothic depends on the spirit and vigour of its details.”¹ The Architectural Museum was founded by a few architects and amateurs to supply the deficiency, and Ruskin, as soon as he was free from the pressure of immediate literary work, threw himself heartily into assisting a scheme which fell in so entirely with the ideas and aspirations expressed by him in The Seven Lamps of Architecture and in the chapter on “The Nature of Gothic.” His presentation of casts of Venetian architecture has been already noticed, and in the preface to the second edition of The Seven Lamps (1855), he urged others to add to the collections of the Museum.² The Curator’s Report for 1854 mentions other services and benefactions rendered by Ruskin:-

“A complete set of panels from the North doorway of Rouen Cathedral presented by Mr. Ruskin.

“A complete series of the Royal Seals of England from William I. to William IV., also presented by Mr. Ruskin. And Mr. Ruskin has besides kindly secured a set of casts of the sculptured panels on the sides of the great door of the cathedral of Notre Dame at Paris. He has also placed in the rooms of the Museum some drawings executed by himself of foreign architecture, and has promised still further aid to the students, by the loan of any casts and drawings in his possession that may be useful to them.

“The following three lectures were given by Mr. Ruskin. The first on the distinction between illumination and painting, the second on the general principles of outline, the third on the general principles of colour.

“Mr. Ruskin has, since these lectures, kindly attended at the Museum to direct the students in the study and practice of the Art of Illumination.”

The pleasures of acquisition, in the case of illuminated manuscripts, were thus combined with the fulfilment of service to others.

¹ C. L. Eastlake’s History of the Gothic Revival, p. 299. The Museum was successively housed in Cannon Street, in Bowling Street, and in Tufton Street, Westminster.

² See Vol. VIII. p. 13, Vol. X. p. 467.

[Version 0.04: March 2008]