The Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art was founded in 1871 by John Ruskin who was, at that time, the first Slade Professor of Fine Art. The original title of the school was 'The Ruskin School of Drawing'; the words 'and Fine Art' were added to the title in 1945.

Before Ruskin founded the Ruskin School of Drawing, there was already an Oxford School of Art in residence in the former Cast Gallery of the University Galleries (subsequently, the Ashmolean Museum) in Beaumont Street. This School was run according to the 'South Kensington' method of teaching. This was a system intended to encourage British artisanship and design by means of a painstaking attention to technical detail and the study of work by selected masters of the field. The system was staged in levels of difficulty and 'appropriateness', life drawing not beginning until stage 11 and use of any artistic medium other than pencil until stage 13. This school was founded in 1865 and membership was a mixture of artisans wishing to improve their technical skills, ladies (chiefly daughters of dons) and a few undergraduates. The head of the School was Alexander Macdonald.

Ruskin disliked the 'South Kensington' system believing that it crushed the imagination. When he accepted the Slade Professorship in 1870 he gradually took over the rooms occupied by the Oxford School of Art and also its pupils. The former Cast Gallery was converted into two rooms for the Ruskin School by the construction of partition walls. These rooms were named the Turner Room (later renamed the Eldon Room) and the Rafaelle (sic) Room. The students were divided into two Schools: the 'Upper School' or 'Professor's class' included undergraduates and ladies; the 'Lower School' was made up of the working class artisans for whom the 'South Kensington' system had originally been designed. The terms 'Upper' and 'Lower' reflected not only the social position of the pupils but also their location: the 'Upper School' remained in the former Cast Gallery while the 'Lower School' was relocated to the basement of the Ashmolean. Ruskin appointed Alexander Macdonald as the first Ruskin Master of Drawing.

Ruskin also began to replace the 'South Kensington' system with methods of his own. To this end, he gathered together a collection of casts, sketches and paintings which he placed in a series of numbered cabinets in the Turner Room (later renamed the Eldon Room). The intention was that his pupils should study and copy these articles and thus learn the finer technical points of artistic creation. There were three series: the Educational and Reference Series, which were for the use of the 'Upper School' or 'Professor's class'; and the Rudimentary Series devised for the use of the 'Lower School'. Each series was accompanied by a printed catalogue. The Catalogue of the Educational Series was first published in 1871, followed in 1872 by the Catalogue of the Rudimentary Series, originally entitled Instructions in the Preliminary Exercises arranged for the Lower Drawing School, Oxford. The Catalogue of the Reference Series followed in 1874. These catalogues were in a constant state of revision until Ruskin resigned from the Slade Professorship for the second time in 1885.

The copy of the deed of Declaration of Trust of 31 May 1875 (in RS 1 and RS 1A) describes "a collection of drawings and a sum of £5000 ...given to the University by Mr Ruskin for the endowment of a Master of Drawing" who was to be responsible for the teaching of Fine Art in the University. The Trust Fund was to be placed in the care of the Ruskin Trustees who should comprise "the Vice Chancellor of the university for the time being and the Slade Professor of Art for the time being... by virtue of their offices; and ...four non official trustees ...the said John Ruskin is Trustee for life". The first four non official Trustees were HRH Prince Leopold; the Very Reverend HG Liddell, DD, Dean of Christ Church; HW Acland, DM, Regius Professor of Medicine; and the Reverend HO Coxe, MA, Bodley's Librarian. New Trustees were to be chosen by Ruskin during his lifetime and by surviving Trustees after his death, "nomination to be approved by the University in Convocation". The Ruskin Trustees were to furnish annual accounts of the expenditure and income of the Ruskin Fund; have the management, superintendence and control of the Ruskin Collection; appoint the Master of Drawing; and make rules concerning the duties of the Master of Drawing.

When Ruskin died in 1900, the composition of the Board of Ruskin Trustees was extended to encompass membership from a wider range of University bodies. The composition was changed twice more, in 1961 and 1977.

In 1918, the General Board of the Faculties created a Committee for the Fine Arts to oversee the teaching and examination of Fine Art and the History of Art throughout the University. In 1945, this Committee took on some of the responsibilities of the Ruskin Trustees. In 1961 responsibility for the Ruskin School and the Certificate in Fine Art was transferred from the Committee to the reconstituted Ruskin Trustees. This transfer left the Committee for the Fine Arts responsible only for the Diploma in the History of Art and the Laurence Binyon Prize; it was accordingly reconstituted and renamed the Committee for the History of Art (Oxford University Gazette, 27 April 1961, pp.1067-9). In 1977 a new Committee for the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art was established as the supervisory body for the School and in 1978 the new degree course of Bachelor of Fine Art was introduced which replaced the previous Certificate course. The School awarded its first degree in Fine Art in 1981 (which became a full honours degree in 1992). The School introduced its DPhil programme in October 2006 and the degree of MFA in 2015.

The Ruskin School remained in the Ashmolean Museum until 1974 when it moved to 74 High Street. The Print making Workshop was relocated to Bullingdon Road, East Oxford. In October 2015, the Ruskin opened a second Fine Art building in Bullingdon Road which houses purpose-built facilities and studios.

The Ruskin Masters of Drawing:

Head of the Ruskin School of Drawing and Fine Art: