In his Letters to a College Friend, Ruskin suggests that the choice of drawing master 'lies between three- Harding, De Wint, and Cox'. He goes on to say that:
De Wint... despises form, because he cannot draw a straight line, and will tell you," Never mind your drawing, but take plenty of colour on your brush, and lay it on very thick." He dispises all rules of compositiion, hates Old Masters and humbug... I think he is your man, especially as he will allow you to make a mess of your colour-box, which I know you like; but all that he can do for you will be to teach you to make a forcible sketch of an atmospheric effect on simple objects; he smothers detail, and his trees are as like cabbages as anything else ( Works, 1.426-427)
Ruskin later argued that De Wint, along with Girtin, Cozens, Robson, Copley Fielding, Cox, and Prout, 'formed a true and progressive school' ( Works, 14.247).