‘Painting with Sunlight: Ruskin and Science’ was one of two digital exhibitions on Google Arts and Culture as part of the 2021 Summer Science Showcase, week long festival celebrating cutting edge UK science.

Co-curated by Sandra Kemp (The Ruskin) and Keith Moore (Royal Society), ‘Painting with Sunlight’ highlights drawings, paintings and daguerreotypes from Lancaster University’s Ruskin Whitehouse Collection, alongside works by Victorian scientists from the Royal Society archive. From the first photographic images of glaciers, to experimental studies of aerial perspective, to Ruskin’s colourful classification system for Alpine geology, discover nineteenth century innovations in art and science.

This digital exhibition was accompanied by a short research article on the Royal Society’s History of Science blog, ‘Cloud Perspectives’, and another Google Arts and Culture exhibition ‘The Royal Society Summer Exhibition: Highlights from the Soirees’, also based on research on the Royal Society and Ruskin collections.