John Robert Cozens (London 1752 - 1797) The tomb of the Horatii and Curatii at Albano, Italy Watercolour over pencil with pen and grey ink 260 by 375 mm
John Robert Cozens (British, 1752-1797) The lesser valley of Ober-hasli, upper part from the north Watercolor and pencil on paper laid on card 9-1/2 x 14-1/8 inches (24.1 x 35.9 cm) (sheet) PROVENANCE: Sale: Walker's Galleries, Ltd., London, 1955, lot unknown; Juliet Ann Rowlatt Balfour, acquired from the above; Private collection, United Kingdom, gift from the above, 1955; Thence by descent to the present owner. Cozens often produced multiple versions of his most popular compositions to meet the demand of his patrons, and his scenes of Lake Nemi and Lake Albano in the Alban Hills near Rome were among those he replicated often. The present sheet recording the artist's depiction of Ober-hasli, Switzerland also qualifies as one of Cozens' more popular subjects, which he painted with slight variations on several occasions. The artist's watercolors are characterized by very delicate monochrome shades of blue and grey washes, and these define his views of Ober-hasli . A very similar treatment of the subject by Cozens is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Walker Galleries was especially well-known in London in the 1920s and 1930s for handling and exhibiting good quality British watercolors, such as the present work. HID01801242017
John Robert Cozens (British, 1752-1797) The lesser valley of Ober-hasli, upper part from the north Watercolor over pencil on paper laid on card 9-1/2 x 14-1/8 inches (24.1 x 35.9 cm) (sheet) PROVENANCE: Sale: Walker's Galleries, Ltd., London, 1955, lot unknown; Juliet Ann Rowlatt Balfour, acquired from the above; Private collection, United Kingdom, gift from the above, 1955; Thence by descent to the present owner, Lincolnshire, Illinois. Cozens often produced multiple versions of his most popular compositions to meet the demand of his patrons, and his scenes of Lake Nemi and Lake Albano in the Alban Hills near Rome were among those he replicated often. The present sheet recording the artist's depiction of Ober-hasli, Switzerland also qualifies as one of Cozens' more popular subjects, which he painted with slight variations on several occasions. The artist's watercolors are characterized by very delicate monochrome shades of blue and grey washes, and these define his views of Ober-hasli . A very similar treatment of the subject by Cozens is in the collection of the Victoria and Albert Museum, London. Walker Galleries was especially well-known in London in the 1920s and 1930s for handling and exhibiting good quality British watercolors, such as the present work. HID01801242017
Follower of John Robert Cozens (British 1752-1797) Follower of John Robert Cozens (British 1752-1797) London and the Thames from Greenwich Watercolour 34 x 48 cm (13 ¼ x 18 ¾ in) framed
JOHN ROBERT COZENS (LONDON 1752-1799) In the Gardens of the Villa Negroni at Rome pencil and watercolour with scratching out 10 ¼ x 14 5/8 in. (26 x 37.2 cm.)
Attributed to John Robert Cozens (British, 1752-1797).The original watercolor pairing features a pastural landscape scene complete with a family, pet dog, grazzing cows, and ships under sail in the background. There is a note on the back of the frame: "inscription on the original frame 'From the album of Margaret G Lynn, Dated 1794' (possibly by John Robert Cozens 1752 - 1797) Measurements: Sight: 11 3/4" x 9 1/2" Frame: 22" x 19 1/2" x 1 1/8"
Joseph Mallord William Turner RA (British, 1775—1851) watercolor on paper. Depicting Bonneville in the style of John Robert Cozens (British, 1752-1799). The verso has the title of the painting, history of the family and history of the piece itself. Dimensions: sight size-11 1/2 inches tall X 18 5/8 inches wide; 29.2 cm tall X 47.3 cm wide. Frame-21 inches tall X 28 1/2 inches wide; 53.3 cm tall X 72.4 cm wide. All measurements are approximate.
John Robert Cozens (London 1752-1797) View of Vietri and Raito, Italy pencil and watercolour, watermark Britannia with lamb and flag 10 1/8 x 14 ¾ in. (25.6 x 37.5 cm.)
JOHN ROBERT COZENS (1752-1799). "The Lake and Town of Nemi". Ganymed facsimile print. 36.3 x 51.4 cm. framed FOOTNOTE: The son and pupil of Alexander Cozens, J. R. Cozens made two protracted sketching tours on the Continent, from 1776-79 and again from 1782-83, when he accompanied Beckford. On both occasions he spent some time in Italy. The Lake of Nemi was one of his favourite subjects, and he executed a large number of drawings showing it from every view-point. The present watercolour shows the lake and town from halfway up the side of the crater, with the round tower of the Orsini conspicuous among the buildings. There are several versions of this drawing in existence, with dates ranging from 1778-91.
JOHN ROBERT COZENS fils (Londres, 1752-1797) Vue de la baie de Naples, Capodimonte, d’après Cozens père Lavis brun, plume et encre brune Annoté au verso : "Kaye Downand col : 1862" View of the Bay of Napoli, Capodimonte, after Cozens the Elder, brown wash, pen and brown ink 27 x 43 cm - 10 5/8 X 16 15/16 IN.
John Robert Cozens (London 1752-1799) On a lane near the Porta Pinciana, Rome with inscription by Ozias Humphry 'View near the Porta Pinciana/in Rome - drawn by J. Cozens Junυr/for Ozias Humprhy-1780' (on a label attached to the original mount according to previous cataloguing) pencil and watercolour 9¾ x 7¼ in. (24.8 x 18.4 cm.)
After John Robert Cozens (1752-1799) Late 18th / early 19thC watercolour Sketch of an Italian coastal scene with hills in the distance and a lady and gentleman in the foreground in local costume. 7 ½" x 9 ½"
PROPERTY FROM AN IMPORTANT PRIVATE COLLECTION 1752 - 1797 VIETRI AND RAITO Watercolour over pencil, held in a British Neo-Classical frame 255 by 370 mm
PROPERTY OF A LADY LONDON 1752-1797 VIEW OF THE GRAND CHARTREUSE Watercolour over pencil, on laid paper, original wash-line mount; inscribed verso: General View of the Grande Chartreus [sic] 260 by 363 mm
LONDON 1752-1797 THE LESSER VALLEY OF OBER-HASLI, UPPER PART FROM THE NORTH, SWITZERLAND Watercolour over pencil, on laid paper, unframed 244 by 368 mm
JOHN ROBERT COZENS 1752 - 1797 THE LAKE OF ALBANO AND CASTEL GANDOLFO stamped lower left with Sir Thomas Lawrence's collectors mark (L. 2445) watercolour over pencil with stopping out, held in a French Louis XVI frame 43.3 by 62 cm.; 17 by 24 1/2 in.
John Robert Cozens (1752-1797), A cedar tree, soft ground etching and aquatint, signed 'J. Cozens' in the plate, published Feb'y 1st 1789, 24 x 32 cm (9 1/2 x 12 1/2 in)
inscribed with title on a fragment of the original label attached to the backboard watercolour over pencil with pen and grey ink and grey wash, on laid paper
signed on the mount l.l.: Jn Cozens.; inscribed on an old label attached to the mount verso : The Valley of Sion / Switzerland watercolour over pencil, in original washline mount
numbered on the mount l.c.: 75 and inscribed with title on the reverse of mount watercolour over pencil with pen and grey ink, in original washline mount
THE PROPERTY OF A LADY NEAR CITARA, WITH VIETRI AND THE CASTLE OF SALERNO IN THE DISTANCE measurements note 25.5 by 36.3cm., 10 by 14¼ in. watercolour over pencil on laid paper, watermarked PROVENANCE C. Morland Agnew; Commander W.G. Agnew, R.N. EXHIBITED London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Drawings by John Robert Cozens, 1922-1923, no. 31 LITERATURE The Walpole Society, The Drawings and Sketches of John Robert Cozens, C.F. Bell and Thomas Girtin, 1935, p. 61, no. 227; A.P. Oppe, Alexander & John Robert Cozens, 1952, note to p. 146 NOTE The sketch (inscribed u., Near Citara - Sept 29/Vietri/Castle of Salerno/x and squared for transfer) from which this watercolour was drawn on 29th September 1782 and is part of seven Beckford sketch books (Vol. III, no. 18) sold in these rooms on 29th November 1973, now in the collection of the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (Fig.1). Cozens made another sketch on 29th September, also from a boat but in calm conditions and from that he later drew three watercolour versions (Bell and Girtin, loc cit., 1935, no. 276). The present work is recorded by Bell and Girtin as the sole finished watercolour of this view. Cozens has drawn the rugged coast, the castle and buildings appearing as mere extensions of the rocky cliff with storm clouds rolling in across the water. The fishing vessels, with loosened sails, aim for shelter and the strength of the gale is further emphasised by smoke rising from Vietri and merging into the low cloud, towards the hardy trees on the hillside. The light indicates a storm at dusk. In several of the Beckford sketches there is no evidence of any inclement weather but Cozens has chosen to introduce it later to the corresponding watercolour. In this case, however, the Beckford sketch records a storm, indicating that on 29th September 1782 it developed off Citara whilst Cozens was still off-shore with his sketchbook. Another study for the watercolour, a pencil drawing in the Soane Museum (SM44/12/24), signed verso, 5 by 6 7/8 in. is inscribed with colour notes, and these show that in both the Beckford drawing and the Soane drawing, he recorded light coming from the left whilst in the present work, the finished watercolour, he has moved the light source round to the south, thereby creating an evening light, and merging the man-made architecture with the rugged coast to increase the massive quality of the view. William Beckford, Cozen's patron for his second tour across the Alps and to Italy, had left him to return to England on 10th September. It allowed Cozens more time to choose and dwell upon a subject and suggests that in these few days Cozens was able to go beyond just recording a view, and could compose with a 'deeper intensity of feeling' reflecting as much the absent William Beckford's state of mind as his own (see Kim Sloan Alexander and John Robert Cozens The Poetry of Landscape, 1986, p. 147).
THE PROPERTY OF A PRIVATE COLLECTION BETWEEN CHAMONIX AND MARTIGNY - THE AIGUILLE VERTE BETWEEN CHAMONIX AND MARTIGNY - THE AIGUILLE VERTE 44 by 61.5 cm., 17 1/4 by 24 1/4 in. watercolour over pencil on laid paper PROVENANCE F.J.C. Holdsworth; Victor Rienacker Esq., (by 1922); J. Leslie Wright, Haseley House, Warwick (by 1935); by descent to his daughter, Mrs Cecil Keith; Thomas Agnew and Sons, Ltd. (1984); Anonymous sale in these Rooms, 28th November 2002, lot 11 EXHIBITED London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Catalogue of the Exhibition of a Collection of Drawings by John Robert Cozens, 1922-23, no. 39, pl. XXI; London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of British Art, 1934, no. 888; Birmingham, City Museum and Art Gallery, Early English Watercolours from the Collections of J. Leslie Wright and Walter Turner, April 1938, no. 41; Bath, Holburne Museum, J. Leslie Wright Collection, 1947, no. 95; Birmingham, City Museum and Art Gallery, Richard Wilson and his Circle, 1948-49, no. 154; London, Royal Academy, Exhibition of the J. Leslie Wright Collection of Masters of British Watercolours, 1949, no. 115; London, Burlington Galleries (Arts Council), Three Centuries of British Water-Colours and Drawings, 1951, no. 50; Paris, British Council, British Landscape Painting, 1953, no. 36; Worthing, Museum and Art Gallery, English Watercolour Drawings from the Collection of Mrs. Cecil Keith, 1963, no. 20; Amsterdam, Rijksmuseum, De Englese Aquarel van Cozens tot Turner, 1965, no. 25; Geneva, Musée d'Art et d'Histoire, Genève et le Mont Blanc, 1965, no. 26; Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery; and London, Victoria and Albert Museum, Watercolours by John Robert Cozens, 1971, no. 1; Munich, British Council, Zweijahrhunderte der Englische Malerie, 1979-80, no. 75; London, Thomas Agnew and Sons Ltd., The Watercolour Collection Formed by Mrs. Cecil Keith, 1984, no. 61 LITERATURE C.F. Bell and Thomas Girtin, `The Drawings and Sketches of Robert Cozens,' The Walpole Society, vol. XXIII, Oxford, 1934-35, p. 28, no. 8; H.J. Paris, English Watercolour Painters, London, 1945, pp. 6 and 15 (illustrated); The Illustrated London News, 15 October 1945, p. 591; A.P. Oppe, Alexander and John Robert Cozens, London, 1952, p. 133; W. Gaunt, Everyman's Dictionary of Pictorial Art, 1962 (illustrated); A. Bury, `Old English Watercolours and Drawings in the Collection of Mrs. Cecil Keith,' The Old Water-Colour Society Club, vol. SLII, 1967, p. 13 (illustrated); A. Wilton, British Watercolours 1750-1850, 1977, pp. 27 and 182, no. 51 (illustrated) NOTE John Constable RA (1776-1837), described Cozens in 1835 as `the greatest genius that ever touched landscape' (letter to William Carpenter) and the present watercolour shows him at the height of his powers. Kim Sloan, when writing about the Victoria and Albert version of this work, described its effect as `a profound respectful silence, as if in a cathedral at the top of the world, with the needles forming the arches and the sky the loft' (see Kim Sloan, Alexander and John Robert Cozens, 1986, p. 120). Cozens records a snow-covered Mount Blanc from across a valley with two figures in the foreground dwarfed by the vastness of their surroundings. Typically, he emphasized the powerlessness of man in comparison to the great forces of nature. As Andrew Wilton (loc.cit., p. 28) concluded, `his figures are usually introduced to point up the smallness of man in his natural surroundings, and to show the large scale of Cozens's wide spaces.' The typically restrained colouring certainly lends the watercolour an atmosphere of timelessness and foreboding, combined with a melancholy beauty. This watercolour is based on a sketch by Cozens executed on the spot on 30th August 1776 (Yale Center for British Art, Yale, Fig. 1). He left London in the summer of that year in the company of the connoisseur and writer Richard Payne Knight. Payne Knight was twenty-six at the time and was celebrated as a champion of the theory of the Picturesque. They entered Switzerland at Geneva, reached Sallanches on the 26th August and Chamonix on the 30th before travelling down to Italy, where Cozens remained until 1779. In the Alps, Cozens made fifty-seven almost monochrome sketches for Payne Knight, which he used as the basis for many of his later works. Adrian Bury states that in this 'version, Cozens has much improved on the original sketch, emphasizing the sublimity of the scene.' The Alps and particularly the area around Mont Blanc had always inspired descriptions of the sublime. In 1772 M.T. Bourrit wrote of this area that of all the pictures nature presents us `those of mountains covered with eternal snows, whose summits reach beyond clouds, and whose forms are so majestic, are by far the most affecting as they fill the mind with an idea of her grandeur and her sublimity.' Cozens returned to Italy in 1782 in the company of William Beckford (see lot 228). They spent time in Rome and stayed with Sir William and Lady Hamilton in Naples but Cozens was back in London by later 1783. Little is known of Cozens' life on his return but he presumably supported himself by producing watercolours based on his Swiss and Italian sketches and perhaps by teaching. A 'Mr Cozens' was on the Royal Staff as drawing master to Princes Ernest and Augustus in 1787-88. On the 26th January 1794, Joseph Farington noted in his diary that `Cozens is paralytic to a degree that has incapacitated him' and a few weeks later `Cozens is now confined under the care of Dr. Monro, who has no expectation of his recovery, as it is a total deprivation of the nervous faculty.' He spent the last three years of his life insane and in the care of the noted collector and amateur artist Dr Thomas Monro who nurtured the talents of the young Turner and Girtin (lots 221,224 & 225) amongst others, paying the artists to copy works by Cozens. A copy of the 1776 version of this subject by Turner, executed for Dr Monro in the mid 1790s, was in the J. Leslie Wright Collection (see Thos. Agnew & Sons, Exhibition Catalogue 1984, no. 60) and is now in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (P40553). Constable was not the only artist to admire the startling originality and recognise the tour de force of sublimity which Cozens is the first to encapsulate in his watercolours. Johann Heinrich Fuseli, R.A., (1741-1825), the great eighteenth century fantasist, was moved to say of him `he followed the arrangements of nature which he saw with an enchanted eye and drew with an enchanted hand.'
FANO ON THE ADRIATIC 25 by 37.5 cm.; 10 by 15 in. watercolour over traces of pencil, framed PROVENANCE James Orrock, R.W.S., his sale at Christie's, 4th June 1904, lot 191 (20 gns.to Agnew) as A Bay near Harlech; James Duveen, his sale in these rooms, 12th July 1967, lot 229 as On the Coast of the Adriatic near Rimini; The Rev. Cecil Cullingford; Anonymous sale at Christie's, 14th December 1971, lot 32 as On the Coast of the Adriatic near Rimini; purchased from Albany Gallery, London (as The Bay of Naples) NOTE Cozens' depictions of Italy and Switzerland are some of the most sublime works in the whole canon of English watercolours. With a brevity of touch, a highly restricted palette, and an assured sense of composition, he recreates the impact of his travels there in the early 1780s. This is not the Italy of bustling fiestas or classical ruins. It is the distilled response to the contours of the landscape and above all, to the quality of the light as it shifts across water and land. All these qualities are to be recognised in the work here. The view is a stretch of the Adriatic coast in The Marche, with the town of Fano in the distance, silhouetted against the lilting line of hills. In the far distance a frieze of white, where the paper is left uncoloured, describes the beaches, now famous, lying beneath the soaring mountains and the sea. In contrast to that area's uninterrupted sunshine, the middle distance is full of the broken luminosity occasioned by the clouds to the left. The foreground is set in shadow, and here a group of travellers pause to take in the view from a grassy knoll etched with Cozens' characteristic bushes. Their way forward is indicated by a snake-like track running up the side of the adjacent hill to a perilous turn at the top. With an extraordinary economy of means, Cozens describes the scene - a description so intense that you can almost hear the water breaking on the long beach beneath the mountain side. By 1782 when this watercolour was painted, Cozens was very conversant with the Italian countryside. He had first journeyed there with the celebrated connoisseur Richard Payne Knight in 1776, staying in the country for nearly three years. In 1782, he set out again, this time as part of William Beckford's suite, which also included the tutor Dr. Lettice, the physician Dr. Ehrhart, and the musician John Burton. Travelling via Innsbruch and the Tyrol, they arrived in Venice before proceeding onto Padua and then down the Adriatic coast. Cozens' sketchbooks from this tour have survived and are now in the collection of the Whitworth Art Gallery in Manchester. In the first book, on page 28 and dated June 23, is his pencil sketch on which this watercolour is based (see C.F.Bell and Thomas Girtin, 'The Drawings and Sketches of John Robert Cozens', The Walpole Society, 1934-5, vol.XXIII, p.54, no.222). In pencil and wash, the artist captured the scene (see fig.2), however, as is evident, this was just the start of the evolution of the finished work. Cozens subtly exaggerates the landscape as his vision matured: the distant mountain is made more monumental; the spit of land going out to sea is more prominent; and the foreground hill is made more abrupt, with a lone white bird flying up the cliff face to emphasise its vertical lines. He also introduces the group of travellers who share our delight in looking at the expansive view, so brilliantly recreated
Cypress in the Garden of the Franciscans at Salerno, Italy with inscription 'In the Pinciani Gardens./J.R. Cozens.' (on an old label attached to the backboard) pencil and watercolour 17 7/8 x 12 in. (45.5 x 30.5 cm.)
Castel Gondolfo, the lake of Albano, Italy signed and dated 'Jn o Cozens 1780' (lower centre, overmounted) and with inscription 'Castel Gondolfo, on the Lake of Albano.' (on the reverse of the backing sheet) and further inscribed 'Castel Gondolfo/the Lake of Albano' (on the backboard) pencil and watercolour, watermark 'J WHATMAN' 14 1/4 x 20 3/4 in. (36.2 x 52.7 cm.)
Cetara, Gulf of Salerno, Italy signed in blue black ink 'J. Cozens' (lower left on the mount) and inscribed 'Mr Hawkins' (on the reverse of the mount) pencil and watercolour, on the artist's original wash-line mount 14 5/8 x 21 in. (37.2 x 53.5 cm.)
(London 1752-1797 London) View of a Mountain Pass. Pencil on cream laid paper. 157x225 mm; 6 1/4x8 7/8 inches. Inscribed "--- Frith" in pencil, lower right recto.
A figure in an extensive mountainous landscape pencil, and blue, grey and green wash 141/4 x 193/4 in. (36.2 x 50.2 cm.) NOTES The arid hillside and the plains in the distance of the present watercolour suggest an Italian landscape and can be compared to a watercolour of the Euganean hills in the Veneto, in the Victoria & Albert Museum, From Mirabella, the Villa of Count Algarotti in the Euganean Hills (Walpole Society XXIII, pl. 21). This watercolour was executed from a sketch dated 19 June 1782 (see Sotheby's, 29 November 1973, Seven Sketchbooks by John Robert Cozens formerly in the collection of William Beckford, vol. I, no. 22). Other sketches from the collection, now in the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester also help to support this identification, see Sotheby's, vol. I, nos. 19 and 24. The present watercolour is also similar in scale to a landscape in the Victoria and Albert Museum entitled Ober Hasli Valley from the south east, see Kim Sloan, Alexander and John Robert Cozens The Poetry of Landscape, London and New Haven, 1986, p. 120, pl. 134. The plain beneath the hills in the present watercolour does however appear to open up more than in the Ober Hasli example. The mood however can be compared. In both watercolours the landscape is very dramatic and in the present example Cozens emphasizes the scale and grandeur of the natural forms by placing a tiny vulnerable human figure lower left. SALESROOM NOTICE We are grateful to Tim Wilcox for suggesting that this view may depict the countryside around Naples (for examples see Cozens's sketchbooks vol. IV/15 and vol. V/19).
