Collaboration with the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford; Co-investigator Victoria Kemp

Ruskin once remarked of himself: ‘I see colour better than most people, and know a thing or two that few do about rocks and clouds’ (Ruskin LE 29:576). He led on the articulation of the contributions of the arts to the natural sciences, as well as on their intersections.

Arising out of the ‘John Ruskin and the Age of Science’ exhibition series, this project considers the pre-eminence of the colour blue for the 19th-century artist, critic and environmentalist John Ruskin (1819-1900). It explores Ruskin’s guidance for artists on the colour blue, which he considered one of the most technically challenging aspects of painting. The project uses advanced analytical imaging techniques – from hyperspectral imaging, X-ray fluorescence, X-ray diffraction (XRD) and fiber optics reflectance spectroscopy (FORS) – to scan and identify blue pigments in paintings from Ruskin’s university teaching collections at Oxford, Lancaster, and Harvard to provide insight into the techniques underlying Ruskin’s theoretical and practical instruction on the uses of the colour blue across the arts and sciences.

The project also explores how Ruskin’s reflections on clouds, sky, and atmospheric effects intersected with and often challenged nineteenth-century studies in optics, meteorology, and geology. His practice reinforced his conviction that art and science are interdependent and contingent systems rooted in culture. As a mediator between artistic tradition and scientific innovation, Ruskin’s insights continue to resonate in contemporary discussions on colour theory and perception.