Lot 228: JOHN ROBERT COZENS 1752-1799

THE PROPERTY OF A LADY

NEAR CITARA, WITH VIETRI AND THE CASTLE OF SALERNO IN THE DISTANCE

measurements note
25.5 by 36.3cm., 10 by 14¼ in.

watercolour over pencil on laid paper, watermarked

PROVENANCE

C. Morland Agnew;
Commander W.G. Agnew, R.N.

EXHIBITED

London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Drawings by John Robert Cozens, 1922-1923, no. 31

LITERATURE

The Walpole Society, The Drawings and Sketches of John Robert Cozens, C.F. Bell and Thomas Girtin, 1935, p. 61, no. 227;
A.P. Oppe, Alexander & John Robert Cozens, 1952, note to p. 146

NOTE

The sketch (inscribed u., Near Citara - Sept 29/Vietri/Castle of Salerno/x and squared for transfer) from which this watercolour was drawn on 29th September 1782 and is part of seven Beckford sketch books (Vol. III, no. 18) sold in these rooms on 29th November 1973, now in the collection of the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester (Fig.1). Cozens made another sketch on 29th September, also from a boat but in calm conditions and from that he later drew three watercolour versions (Bell and Girtin, loc cit., 1935, no. 276). The present work is recorded by Bell and Girtin as the sole finished watercolour of this view.

Cozens has drawn the rugged coast, the castle and buildings appearing as mere extensions of the rocky cliff with storm clouds rolling in across the water. The fishing vessels, with loosened sails, aim for shelter and the strength of the gale is further emphasised by smoke rising from Vietri and merging into the low cloud, towards the hardy trees on the hillside. The light indicates a storm at dusk.

In several of the Beckford sketches there is no evidence of any inclement weather but Cozens has chosen to introduce it later to the corresponding watercolour. In this case, however, the Beckford sketch records a storm, indicating that on 29th September 1782 it developed off Citara whilst Cozens was still off-shore with his sketchbook.

Another study for the watercolour, a pencil drawing in the Soane Museum (SM44/12/24), signed verso, 5 by 6 7/8 in. is inscribed with colour notes, and these show that in both the Beckford drawing and the Soane drawing, he recorded light coming from the left whilst in the present work, the finished watercolour, he has moved the light source round to the south, thereby creating an evening light, and merging the man-made architecture with the rugged coast to increase the massive quality of the view.

William Beckford, Cozen's patron for his second tour across the Alps and to Italy, had left him to return to England on 10th September. It allowed Cozens more time to choose and dwell upon a subject and suggests that in these few days Cozens was able to go beyond just recording a view, and could compose with a 'deeper intensity of feeling' reflecting as much the absent William Beckford's state of mind as his own (see Kim Sloan Alexander and John Robert Cozens The Poetry of Landscape, 1986, p. 147).