Luke Herrman, a leading authority on the life and work of Turner, sets the Ashmolean's collections within the context of the artist's life and particularly his relationship with Ruskin. The Turner collection in the Ashmolean Museum is the finest and most representative of his watercolours and drawings outside London, including work from all periods of his life providing a broad survey of his development as a draughtsman. It includes ten watercolours commissioned from the young Turner to be engraved for the Oxford Almanack between 1799 and 1810, and a representative selection of sketches and finished works, over 70 of which were given to the University of Oxford by the artist's friend and champion, John Ruskin, among them 23 watercolours from the celebrated series, The Rivers of France.