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John Robert Cozens, artist
English, 1752 - 1797
Palm Trees on a Mediterranean Bay, 1789
Soft ground etching and quatint, touched with wash by the artist
27.7 x 35.3 cm (image); 37.9 x 55.6 cm (sheet)
Achenbach Foundation for Graphic Arts purchase

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Artist Biography: Draftsman and painter whose watercolors influenced several generations of British landscape painters. Son of the watercolorist Alexander Cozens. Began to exhibit drawings with the Society of Artists in 1767 at the age of 15. Paid two long visits to the Continent, 1776-79 and 1782-83, which were the formative and decisive events in his career. The first time he travelled through Switzerland to Italy, and spent much time in Rome. The second trip was made with author William Beckford, who studied drawing under Alexander. ~~Cozens became deranged in 1793 and spent the remainder of his life under the care of Thomas Monro, an alienist and amateur draftsman. ~~Cozens took subject matter from the Alps and the Roman Campagna. By employing low-toned combinations of blue, green, and gray watercolor, he evoked a haunting and sometimes melancholy mood. Thomas Girtin and J.M.W. Turner studied and copied his works in their early years, and learned from him the full range of watercolor as an expressive medium. ~~