Brown wash, gray wash, graphite, and brown ground on medium, slightly textured, cream laid paper, mounted on moderately thick, slightly textured, cream laid paper
Dimensions:
Sheet: 9 1/4 x 12 1/4 inches (23.5 x 31.1 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1977.14.5233
Gallery Label:
Alexander Cozens was born in Russia to English parents working for Peter the Great. He was schooled in England and eventually settled there, where he found employment as a drawing master. The author of a number of theoretical texts on art and aesthetics, he argued that landscape could convey the kind of moral messages usually associated with history painting. For Cozens, a view of mountains like this one could inspire feelings of “surprise, terror, superstition, silence, melancholy, power, strength.” His sublime imagery and aesthetic theory had a major impact on later landscapists, especially his own son, John Robert Cozens. Gallery label for Great British Watercolors from the Paul Mellon Collection at the Yale Center for British Art (Yale Center for British Art, 2008-06-09 - 2008-08-17)