Four of these drawings are for Ruskin's illustrations for his Modern Painters, ed. V, 1860 (E.T. Cook and A. Wederburn, ed., The Works of John Ruskin, ed. VII, 1905); plate 51, 'The Dryad's Tail'; engraved by J.C. Armytage, showing an outer spray of oak in winter before budding (p.27); plate 57, 'Leafage by Durer and Veronese', engraved by R.P. Cuff, where these examples are praised for their vitality and naturalism at the expense of Salvator Rosa (pp.89-90): figure 56, showing two Scotch firs enlarged a few times from a detail of Turner's Liber Studiorum plate of Inverary, to demonstrate 'double action: the warping of the leaves away from the sea-wind, and the continual growing out of the boughs on the right-hand side to recover the balance' (p.87); and, three on one page, figures 88, 'an effect of sky behind the tower of Berne Cathedral' with the Eiger on the right (p.169), figure 89, 'drift-cloud of level country' (p.169), and rising drift-cloud (p.XVII n.4). The other drawing of a leafy branch was probably also intended for a didactic illustration.

The other, larger drawing shows the Bay of Naples with the Palazzo Donn'Anna on the right and is a variant of a drawing sold at Sotheby's, 12 July 1984, lot 47, which lacks signature but bears title. It was reproduced as an illustration in one of Ruskins's letters to a college friend from Naples, 12 February 1841 (Cook and Wederburn, op.cit., ed.I, 1903, pl.17) and dates from his visit to Naples in that year