The Mont Blanc range from near Chamonix (recto); Sketches of the Mont Blanc range from the Tapia above Chamonix, seen from Geneva, and seen from the Dole (verso)

From the Getty Museum record

This pen drawing is a rapidly sketched view of the Mont Blanc Alpine mountain range seen from near Chamonix, France, with individual peaks annotated by name. The artist used pink watercolor for patches of shadow within the snow-capped peaks, and green-gray for the lower slopes, all under a vivid blue sky. Ruskin made this sketch from memory in the spring of 1843 for his artist-friend George Richmond (1809-1896) to outline the best route through Switzerland to Italy. He enclosed it with an eight-page letter describing the most advantageous viewpoints and best approaches to the mountains. Richmond undertook his journey in September 1843, writing to his wife “I think that the last four days have been the happiest that I ever spent abroad … Ruskin was quite right in saying how much I should enjoy the air of Chamonix.”