Landscape with Riverbed and Mountains

Alexander Cozens

1770–86 · Brush and gray and yellow wash; laid down on original paper mount with gray wash · Drawings and Prints

This mountainous landscape with a rocky, sundrenched foreground and a winding riverbed or valley is a beautiful example of the kinds of imaginary views Alexander Cozens produced during the 1770s and 1780s. Built up from broad washes, hatching, and stippling, applied with a brush in varying shades of gray and set off against a uniform yellowish wash as the lightest tone, the two boulders or mountains emerge from a sophisticated interplay and interlacing of light and dark patches of ink. The almost complete absence of vegetation as well as human or animal life lend this work a dreamlike quality.

Artist

Alexander Cozens

Date

1770–86

Medium

Brush and gray and yellow wash; laid down on original paper mount with gray wash

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1930