Mountain landscape
Maker
(artist)
1717-1786
1717-1786
Title
Mountain landscape
Date of Production
1775 - 1780
Medium
traces of graphite, brown wash on brown-prepared laid paper, laid down on a mount
Dimensions
Height: 23.3 cm
Width: 31.3 cm
Width: 31.3 cm
Accession Number
D.1952.RW.1152
Mode of Acquisition
Robert Clermont Witt, bequest, 1952
Credit
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Copyright
Work in the public domain
Location
Not currently on display
Keywords
Label Text
The colour of the paper may be accounted for by the artist's occasional practice of rendering it transparent with turpentine, or varnish and turpentine, a process which allowed him to trace the random shape of a blot and use it as the basis for a wash landscape. Cozens had evolved this procedure over a lengthy period and described it in 'A New Method of Assisting the Invention in Drawing Original Compositions of Landscape' published in 1785. Whether or not this drawing was such a 'blot', the resulting landscape is schematic and stylistically linked to drawings produced in this way.
Provenance
Henry Edward Home-Drummond-Moray (1846-1911); Thomas Agnew & Sons (London); purchased there by Sir Robert Witt, London (1872-1952), L.2228b, n.d. (£6); Witt Bequest 1952
Exhibition History
Courtauld Connects Regional Programme - Radical Drawing, Herbert Art Gallery and Museum, Coventry, 18/10/2019-19/01/2020
The Witt Collection - Four centuries of drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/04/2004-20/06/2004
The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/09/1986-30/11/1986; The Drawing Center, New York, 08/04/1986-26/07/1986 ...More
Mantegna to Cezanne - Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 24/02/1983-19/06/1983
English Landscape Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/06/1979-01/09/1979
Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolours from the Spooner and Witt Collections, Australia, New Zealand, 1976-78
English Landscape Drawings [catalogue not found], Rye Art Gallery, England, 1971
English Landscape Drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/01/1965-01/05/1965
Englische Aquarelle, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, and China, 1963-64
Seventy Years of British Painting, London & England, 1960
Some British Drawings on loan to the National Gallery of Canada from the Collection of Sir Robert Witt, American Federation of the Arts, Washington, D.C. and nine cities in the USA, 1951
Some British Drawings on loan to the National Gallery of Canada from the Collection of Sir Robert Witt, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1949 - 1950
Drawings and paintings by Alexander Cozens, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield; Tate Gallery, London, 1946
catalogue untraced, San Francisco, 1938
Exhibition of late 18th and early 19th Century Art, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1933 (Jun.-Jul.) ...Less
The Witt Collection - Four centuries of drawings, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/04/2004-20/06/2004
The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/09/1986-30/11/1986; The Drawing Center, New York, 08/04/1986-26/07/1986 ...More
Mantegna to Cezanne - Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 24/02/1983-19/06/1983
English Landscape Drawings and Watercolours, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/06/1979-01/09/1979
Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolours from the Spooner and Witt Collections, Australia, New Zealand, 1976-78
English Landscape Drawings [catalogue not found], Rye Art Gallery, England, 1971
English Landscape Drawings from the Witt Collection, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/01/1965-01/05/1965
Englische Aquarelle, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, Nationalgalerie, and China, 1963-64
Seventy Years of British Painting, London & England, 1960
Some British Drawings on loan to the National Gallery of Canada from the Collection of Sir Robert Witt, American Federation of the Arts, Washington, D.C. and nine cities in the USA, 1951
Some British Drawings on loan to the National Gallery of Canada from the Collection of Sir Robert Witt, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1949 - 1950
Drawings and paintings by Alexander Cozens, Graves Art Gallery, Sheffield; Tate Gallery, London, 1946
catalogue untraced, San Francisco, 1938
Exhibition of late 18th and early 19th Century Art, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1933 (Jun.-Jul.) ...Less
Literature
The Northern Landscape. Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, The Drawing Center, New York; Courtauld Institute Galleries, 1986
no. 82
Illus. p. 189
The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1986
cat. no. 82
Illus. p. 189
Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
cat. no. 80
Fig. p. 87 ...More
English Landscape Drawings and Watercolours, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1979
cat. no. 9
Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolours from the Spooner and Witt Collections, Australia, New Zealand, 1976 - 1978
cat. no. 5
English Landscape Drawings from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1965
cat. no. 20
Exhibition of British water-colour painting during three centuries, China, 1963
no. 6
Illus. repr.
different catalogues for China and Berlin venues (see below)
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1963-64, Englische Aquarelle
unpag.
Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 14
Some British Drawings on loan to the National Gallery of Canada from the Collection of Sir Robert Witt, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1949-50
no. 15
Exhibition of late 18th and early 19th Century Art, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1933 ...Less
no. 82
Illus. p. 189
The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1986
cat. no. 82
Illus. p. 189
Mantegna to Cezanne: Master Drawings from the Courtauld, British Museum, London, 1983
cat. no. 80
Fig. p. 87 ...More
English Landscape Drawings and Watercolours, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1979
cat. no. 9
Exhibition of Drawings and Watercolours from the Spooner and Witt Collections, Australia, New Zealand, 1976 - 1978
cat. no. 5
English Landscape Drawings from the Witt Collection, Courtauld Institute Galleries, London, 1965
cat. no. 20
Exhibition of British water-colour painting during three centuries, China, 1963
no. 6
Illus. repr.
different catalogues for China and Berlin venues (see below)
Staatliche Museen zu Berlin, 1963-64, Englische Aquarelle
unpag.
Blunt, Anthony, Hand-list of the drawings in the Witt Collection, London, 1956
p. 14
Some British Drawings on loan to the National Gallery of Canada from the Collection of Sir Robert Witt, National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 1949-50
no. 15
Exhibition of late 18th and early 19th Century Art, California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1933 ...Less
Inscriptions
Watermark: Watermark: centre: "D" (not found in Heawood).
Inscription: Recto: upper right corner, graphite, the '4' written over a '5': "54". Mount (historic), Recto: lower left, grey wash: "Alexr. Cozens.". Mount (historic), Verso: upper left corner, graphite: "10"; upper centre, graphite, scribbled over: "85"; centre, graphite, Witt number: "1152"; lower left, graphite: "Ownd"; lower right, graphite, erased: "me/7/" [could be a “9“]; lower right, graphite: "#1".
Collector's mark: Mount, Verso: lower right corner, stamped in black:Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).
Inscription: Recto: upper right corner, graphite, the '4' written over a '5': "54". Mount (historic), Recto: lower left, grey wash: "Alexr. Cozens.". Mount (historic), Verso: upper left corner, graphite: "10"; upper centre, graphite, scribbled over: "85"; centre, graphite, Witt number: "1152"; lower left, graphite: "Ownd"; lower right, graphite, erased: "me/7/" [could be a “9“]; lower right, graphite: "#1".
Collector's mark: Mount, Verso: lower right corner, stamped in black:Sir Robert Witt (L.2228b).
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