Riders with Sheep near an Estuary

David Cox

1830 · Watercolor · Drawings and Prints

Cox painted this watercolor, which may represent Traeth Mawr, near Harlech in North Wales, at mid-career, having already published an influential treatise on watercolor, made European tours, and moved to London. In the years that followed, he would translate his picturesque views into oil paintings and cultivate an increasingly sketchy style in his drawings. But at the time he prepared this watercolor, the artist favored sweeping, cleanly described views with strong hues used sparingly. Touches of brilliant blue animate the sky, while minute passages of emerald and vermilion punctuate the jacket of a standing youth and a rider’s cloak.

Artist

David Cox

Date

1830

Medium

Watercolor

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, The Elisha Whittelsey Collection, The Elisha Whittelsey Fund, Harry G. Sperling Fund, Anne K. and E. Powis Jones Gift, 2001