Ruskin argued that much could be learned from good copies of work by the great artists (especially the Italian Old Masters and Turner), and included in his Guild of St George Museum many reproductive drawings commissioned from more than a dozen artists. It is probable that Isabella Jay was already pursuing a career as a copyist before her work came to Ruskin’s attention; although she later made many copies from Turner. “Miss Isabella Jay’s copies of Turner’s pictures,” Ruskin wrote in 1868, “are the most accurate and beautiful I have yet seen, in many respects attaining fully to the expression of the master’s most subtle qualities; and I think that such copies are much more valuable and instructive possessions than the original drawings of second-rate artists.”The original oil painting by Turner was part of the Turner Bequest in 1856 and now in the Tate Gallery.