The Ashmolean Museum houses the Ruskin Teaching Collection, a diverse assembly of 1,470 works curated by artist, critic, and educator John Ruskin for his Drawing School, established in 1871. This collection features watercolours, drawings, prints, and photographs of art, architecture, and natural history that were acquired or commissioned from contemporaries such as J.M.W. Turner, Burne-Jones, and William Henry Hunt. The core objective of pigment identification combined with the information potential of the collection offers the unique opportunity to "think outside the (paint)box": by fostering creative collaborations, the Ashmolean museum provides valuable scientific support to other Ruskin centres, specifically in the examination of an artists' palette attributed to Ruskin. Compositional analysis and imaging techniques such as infrared reflectography and digital microscopy of Ruskin’s iconic Kingfisher and William Henry Hunt's "Peach and Grapes" has inspired engaging outreach activities aimed at educating both children and adults on the forensic science behind art examination. Additionally, the systematic study of 19th-century pigments serves as a highly translatable tool for identifying industrial-era restoration efforts on other painted objects, such as the fresco from Nero's palace, which is thought to have undergone significant modifications at unknown times.
