Alexander Cozens
Encyclopedia
Alexander Cozens was a British
landscape painter in watercolours, a published teacher of painting, and father of John Robert Cozens
.
. The legend says the czar took her to Russia
, where Cozens was born, and had another son by her, who became a general in the Russian army. In fact, Alexander Cozens was son of Richard Cozens (1674–1735), who worked for Peter I as a shipbuilder. Alexander Cozens was sent to study painting in Italy
, from where he travelled to Britain in 1746 or shortly after.
In 1760 he was among the contributors to the first public exhibition in London of works by living artists, which was held in the great room of the Society of Arts
. The exhibition was organised by a body of artists who afterwards divided into the 'Free Society' and the 'Incorporated Society of Artists'. Cozens contributed to the exhibitions of both societies. In 1761 he obtained a prize from the Society of Arts at the exhibition in the Strand
of the former, but he was one of the original members of the latter, incorporated in 1766. He also exhibited eight works at the Royal Academy
between 1772 and 1781. He was mostly employed in teaching, was drawing-master at Eton college
from 1763 to 1768, and gave lessons to the Prince of Wales
, Sir George Beaumont
, and William Beckford
, who were to be arguably the three most important British art patrons and collectors of their generation. Beckford continued to correspond with him for some years. He also practised at Bath.
He married Juliet Pine, a sister of Robert Edge Pine
and daughter of John Pine, Bluemantle Pursuivant in the College of Heralds (b. London, 1690, d. London 1756), by whom he left one son, John Robert Cozens
and a daughter Juliet Cozens. He died in Duke Street, Piccadilly, 23 April 1786.
. These drawings, mostly Italian scenes, had been lost by him in Germany
on his way from Rome
to Britain, and were recovered in Florence
thirty years afterwards (1776) by his son. They show him as a highly skilled draughtsman in the style of the time, with much sense of scenic elegance in composition. Some are wholly in pen and ink in the manner of line engravings. Others show extensive landscapes elaborately drawn in pencil, and partly finished in ink. Others are washed in monochrome, and some in colour of a timid kind. One, a view of Porto Longano in the Isle of Elba, is very prettily tinted. In most there is little sky, but in one he has attempted a bold effect of sunlight streaming through cloud, and brightly illuminating several distinct spots in the landscape. Several broad pencil drawings on greenish paper heightened with white are very effective. Altogether these show that Cozens before his arrival in Britain was a well-trained artist who observed nature for himself, and was not without poetical feeling. After his arrival in Britain he appears, from some drawings in the South Kensington Museum, to have adopted a much broader style, aiming at an imposing distribution of masses and large effects of light and shade.
Sir George Beaumont
was his pupil at Eton, and so also was Henry Angelo, whose Reminiscences give a lively description of his peculiar method of teaching: 'Cozens dashed out upon several pieces of paper a series of accidental smudges and blots in black, brown, and grey, which being floated on, he impressed again upon other paper, and by the exercise of his fertile imagination, and a certain degree of ingenious coaxing, converted into romantic rocks, woods, towers, steeples, cottages, rivers, fields, and waterfalls. Blue and grey blots formed the mountains, clouds, and skies'. An improvement on this plan was to splash the bottoms of earthenware plates with these blots, and to stamp impressions therefrom on sheets of damped paper'. In 1785 he published a pamphlet
on this manner of drawing landscapes from blots, called A New Method of Assisting the Invention in Drawing Original Compositions of Landscape" (1785–86). Joseph Wright of Derby
was influenced by Cozens and owned his paintings using his ideas as inspiration for his compositions.
In 1778 Cozens published Principles of Beauty relative to the Human Head (a work 'of more ingenuity than value'), with nineteen engravings by Bartolozzi
. The list of subscribers included William Beckford
(father of Cozens' pupil
William Thomas Beckford
), Burke
, Garrick
, Flaxman
, Sir Joshua Reynolds
, and other men of culture. Thomas Banks
exhibited in 1782 'Head of a Majestic Beauty, composed on Mr.Cozens's principles'. Cozens also published The various Species of Composition in Nature, and The Shape, Skeleton, and Foliage of Thirty-two Species of Trees, (1771, reprinted 1786).
United Kingdom
The United Kingdom of Great Britain and Northern IrelandIn the United Kingdom and Dependencies, other languages have been officially recognised as legitimate autochthonous languages under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages...
landscape painter in watercolours, a published teacher of painting, and father of John Robert Cozens
John Robert Cozens
John Robert Cozens was a British draftsman and painter of romantic watercolour landscapes.-Biography:The son of the Russian-born drawing master and watercolorist, Alexander Cozens, John Robert Cozens was born in London. He studied under his father and began to exhibit some early drawings with the...
.
Life
Alexander Cozens was said to be a natural son of emperor Peter I of Russia and a British woman — Mary Davenport — from DeptfordDeptford
Deptford is a district of south London, England, located on the south bank of the River Thames. It is named after a ford of the River Ravensbourne, and from the mid 16th century to the late 19th was home to Deptford Dockyard, the first of the Royal Navy Dockyards.Deptford and the docks are...
. The legend says the czar took her to Russia
Russia
Russia or , officially known as both Russia and the Russian Federation , is a country in northern Eurasia. It is a federal semi-presidential republic, comprising 83 federal subjects...
, where Cozens was born, and had another son by her, who became a general in the Russian army. In fact, Alexander Cozens was son of Richard Cozens (1674–1735), who worked for Peter I as a shipbuilder. Alexander Cozens was sent to study painting in Italy
Italy
Italy , officially the Italian Republic languages]] under the European Charter for Regional or Minority Languages. In each of these, Italy's official name is as follows:;;;;;;;;), is a unitary parliamentary republic in South-Central Europe. To the north it borders France, Switzerland, Austria and...
, from where he travelled to Britain in 1746 or shortly after.
In 1760 he was among the contributors to the first public exhibition in London of works by living artists, which was held in the great room of the Society of Arts
Royal Society of Arts
The Royal Society for the encouragement of Arts, Manufacturers and Commerce is a British multi-disciplinary institution, based in London. The name Royal Society of Arts is frequently used for brevity...
. The exhibition was organised by a body of artists who afterwards divided into the 'Free Society' and the 'Incorporated Society of Artists'. Cozens contributed to the exhibitions of both societies. In 1761 he obtained a prize from the Society of Arts at the exhibition in the Strand
Strand, London
Strand is a street in the City of Westminster, London, England. The street is just over three-quarters of a mile long. It currently starts at Trafalgar Square and runs east to join Fleet Street at Temple Bar, which marks the boundary of the City of London at this point, though its historical length...
of the former, but he was one of the original members of the latter, incorporated in 1766. He also exhibited eight works at the Royal Academy
Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly, London. The Royal Academy of Arts has a unique position in being an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects whose purpose is to promote the creation, enjoyment and...
between 1772 and 1781. He was mostly employed in teaching, was drawing-master at Eton college
Eton College
Eton College, often referred to simply as Eton, is a British independent school for boys aged 13 to 18. It was founded in 1440 by King Henry VI as "The King's College of Our Lady of Eton besides Wyndsor"....
from 1763 to 1768, and gave lessons to the Prince of Wales
George III of the United Kingdom
George III was King of Great Britain and King of Ireland from 25 October 1760 until the union of these two countries on 1 January 1801, after which he was King of the United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland until his death...
, Sir George Beaumont
Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet
Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet was a British art patron and amateur painter. He played a crucial part in the creation of London's National Gallery by making the first bequest of paintings to that institution....
, and William Beckford
William Thomas Beckford
William Thomas Beckford , usually known as William Beckford, was an English novelist, a profligate and consummately knowledgeable art collector and patron of works of decorative art, a critic, travel writer and sometime politician, reputed to be the richest commoner in England...
, who were to be arguably the three most important British art patrons and collectors of their generation. Beckford continued to correspond with him for some years. He also practised at Bath.
He married Juliet Pine, a sister of Robert Edge Pine
Robert Edge Pine
Robert Edge Pine was an English portrait and historical painter, born in London. He was the son of John Pine, the engraver, and probably his pupil....
and daughter of John Pine, Bluemantle Pursuivant in the College of Heralds (b. London, 1690, d. London 1756), by whom he left one son, John Robert Cozens
John Robert Cozens
John Robert Cozens was a British draftsman and painter of romantic watercolour landscapes.-Biography:The son of the Russian-born drawing master and watercolorist, Alexander Cozens, John Robert Cozens was born in London. He studied under his father and began to exhibit some early drawings with the...
and a daughter Juliet Cozens. He died in Duke Street, Piccadilly, 23 April 1786.
Cozens's art
Before Cozens came to Britain there were fifty-four specimens in the British MuseumBritish Museum
The British Museum is a museum of human history and culture in London. Its collections, which number more than seven million objects, are amongst the largest and most comprehensive in the world and originate from all continents, illustrating and documenting the story of human culture from its...
. These drawings, mostly Italian scenes, had been lost by him in Germany
Germany
Germany , officially the Federal Republic of Germany , is a federal parliamentary republic in Europe. The country consists of 16 states while the capital and largest city is Berlin. Germany covers an area of 357,021 km2 and has a largely temperate seasonal climate...
on his way from Rome
Rome
Rome is the capital of Italy and the country's largest and most populated city and comune, with over 2.7 million residents in . The city is located in the central-western portion of the Italian Peninsula, on the Tiber River within the Lazio region of Italy.Rome's history spans two and a half...
to Britain, and were recovered in Florence
Florence
Florence is the capital city of the Italian region of Tuscany and of the province of Florence. It is the most populous city in Tuscany, with approximately 370,000 inhabitants, expanding to over 1.5 million in the metropolitan area....
thirty years afterwards (1776) by his son. They show him as a highly skilled draughtsman in the style of the time, with much sense of scenic elegance in composition. Some are wholly in pen and ink in the manner of line engravings. Others show extensive landscapes elaborately drawn in pencil, and partly finished in ink. Others are washed in monochrome, and some in colour of a timid kind. One, a view of Porto Longano in the Isle of Elba, is very prettily tinted. In most there is little sky, but in one he has attempted a bold effect of sunlight streaming through cloud, and brightly illuminating several distinct spots in the landscape. Several broad pencil drawings on greenish paper heightened with white are very effective. Altogether these show that Cozens before his arrival in Britain was a well-trained artist who observed nature for himself, and was not without poetical feeling. After his arrival in Britain he appears, from some drawings in the South Kensington Museum, to have adopted a much broader style, aiming at an imposing distribution of masses and large effects of light and shade.
Sir George Beaumont
Sir George Beaumont, 7th Baronet
Sir George Howland Beaumont, 7th Baronet was a British art patron and amateur painter. He played a crucial part in the creation of London's National Gallery by making the first bequest of paintings to that institution....
was his pupil at Eton, and so also was Henry Angelo, whose Reminiscences give a lively description of his peculiar method of teaching: 'Cozens dashed out upon several pieces of paper a series of accidental smudges and blots in black, brown, and grey, which being floated on, he impressed again upon other paper, and by the exercise of his fertile imagination, and a certain degree of ingenious coaxing, converted into romantic rocks, woods, towers, steeples, cottages, rivers, fields, and waterfalls. Blue and grey blots formed the mountains, clouds, and skies'. An improvement on this plan was to splash the bottoms of earthenware plates with these blots, and to stamp impressions therefrom on sheets of damped paper'. In 1785 he published a pamphlet
Pamphlet
A pamphlet is an unbound booklet . It may consist of a single sheet of paper that is printed on both sides and folded in half, in thirds, or in fourths , or it may consist of a few pages that are folded in half and saddle stapled at the crease to make a simple book...
on this manner of drawing landscapes from blots, called A New Method of Assisting the Invention in Drawing Original Compositions of Landscape" (1785–86). Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright of Derby
Joseph Wright , styled Wright of Derby, was an English landscape and portrait painter. He has been acclaimed as "the first professional painter to express the spirit of the Industrial Revolution"....
was influenced by Cozens and owned his paintings using his ideas as inspiration for his compositions.
In 1778 Cozens published Principles of Beauty relative to the Human Head (a work 'of more ingenuity than value'), with nineteen engravings by Bartolozzi
Francesco Bartolozzi
Francesco Bartolozzi was an Italian engraver, whose most productive period was spent in London.He was born in Florence...
. The list of subscribers included William Beckford
William Beckford (politician)
William Beckford was a well-known political figure in 18th century London, who twice held the office of Lord Mayor of London . His vast wealth came largely from his plantations in Jamaica...
(father of Cozens' pupil
Pupil
The pupil is a hole located in the center of the iris of the eye that allows light to enter the retina. It appears black because most of the light entering the pupil is absorbed by the tissues inside the eye. In humans the pupil is round, but other species, such as some cats, have slit pupils. In...
William Thomas Beckford
William Thomas Beckford
William Thomas Beckford , usually known as William Beckford, was an English novelist, a profligate and consummately knowledgeable art collector and patron of works of decorative art, a critic, travel writer and sometime politician, reputed to be the richest commoner in England...
), Burke
Edmund Burke
Edmund Burke PC was an Irish statesman, author, orator, political theorist and philosopher who, after moving to England, served for many years in the House of Commons of Great Britain as a member of the Whig party....
, Garrick
David Garrick
David Garrick was an English actor, playwright, theatre manager and producer who influenced nearly all aspects of theatrical practice throughout the 18th century and was a pupil and friend of Dr Samuel Johnson...
, Flaxman
John Flaxman
John Flaxman was an English sculptor and draughtsman.-Early life:He was born in York. His father was also named John, after an ancestor who, according to family tradition, had fought for Parliament at the Battle of Naseby, and afterwards settled as a carrier or farmer in Buckinghamshire...
, Sir Joshua Reynolds
Joshua Reynolds
Sir Joshua Reynolds RA FRS FRSA was an influential 18th-century English painter, specialising in portraits and promoting the "Grand Style" in painting which depended on idealization of the imperfect. He was one of the founders and first President of the Royal Academy...
, and other men of culture. Thomas Banks
Thomas Banks
Thomas Banks , English sculptor, son of a surveyor who was land steward to the Duke of Beaufort, was born in London. He was taught drawing by his father, and in 1750 was apprenticed to a woodcarver. In his spare time he worked at sculpture, spending his evenings in the studio of the Flemish émigré...
exhibited in 1782 'Head of a Majestic Beauty, composed on Mr.Cozens's principles'. Cozens also published The various Species of Composition in Nature, and The Shape, Skeleton, and Foliage of Thirty-two Species of Trees, (1771, reprinted 1786).
Further reading
- Kim Sloan, 'Alexander Cozens and Amateurs Drawn to Etch', Print Quarterly, XXVIII, 2011, pp. 405-09.
- C. A. Cramer, 'Alexander Cozen's 'New Method': the blot and general nature - painter', in The Art Bulletin; vol. 79, no. 1 (March 1997), 112-129.
- K. Sloan, Alexander and John Robert Cozens The Poetry of Landscape (1986)
- A. P. Oppe, Alexander and John Robert Cozens (1952)
External links
- Alexander Cozens online (artcyclopedia).
- Cozens, Alexander: A Blot: Tigers (c.1770-80) ("The Independent" - 13 April 2007).