Figure in a Classical Landscape

Alexander Cozens

1755–65 · Brush and brown inks; laid down on original paper mount with double border line in black ink · Drawings and Prints

This drawing reflects Cozens’s concern with classical landscape imagery and includes many of the motifs he first encountered during an extended period of study in Italy around 1746. A river winds back from a foreground bank where a large tree frames the image to the right, with a figure in classical dress standing beyond. In the background, an Italianate villa is nestled at the foot of a hill and partly screened by bushes, rocks, and a smaller tree. Stylistically, the drawing resembles Cozens’s work of the 1760s, when the artist was an eager and successful participant in London’s first public art exhibitions. With its precise and tightly controlled linework in brown ink, this enigmatic drawing may have been such an exhibition piece.

Artist

Alexander Cozens

Date

1755–65

Medium

Brush and brown inks; laid down on original paper mount with double border line in black ink

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Harry G. Sperling Fund, 2017