Lot 61: JOHN ROBERT COZENS

JOHN ROBERT COZENS 1752 - 1797 VIETRI AND RAITO watercolour over pencil, held in a British Neo-Classical frame 25.5 by 37 cm.; 10 by 14 1/2 in.

C.F. Bell and T. Girtin, 'The Sketches and Drawings of John Robert Cozens', The Walpole Society, vol. XXIII, 1935, p. 59, no. 270.i., entitled 'Part of Vietri and Raito'

William Beckford (1760-1844);
His Sale, Christie's London, 10 April 1805, lot 55, described as 'a capital drawing' (bt. anonymously, 5 gns);
Anonymous sale, Phillips London, 23 March 1981, lot 102;
with Martyn Gregory, London

In the present work Cozens has drawn a view of the small Italian coastal towns of Vietri and Raito which lie on the coast near Naples. Monte Peruso lies above them and the castle and roof tops of houses nestle along the bay at Marina di Vietri in the near foreground. In this watercolour Cozens does not render the actual colours of the campagna or the rocky coast on the Bay of Naples under normal sunlight, but he selects certain moments of the day when the light is at its gentlest and most subtle and so recreates the poetic atmosphere and essence of the view with a sensibility which was only surpassed by Turner's later more highly coloured visions. In the words of John Constable, 'Cozens was all poetry.'[1]

The pencil sketch for this watercolour was drawn on the 23rd September 1782 and forms part of the seven Beckford sketch books sold Sotheby's London, 29υth November 1973 (now in the collection of the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.)[2] The sketches were drawn mainly to order to provide a series of nearly a hundred of the most magnificent and poetic watercolour landscapes ever painted for William Beckford.[3]

In 1782 Cozens had been invited to accompany Beckford and his enormous entourage on his second trip to Italy (see previous lot). Beckford was a pupil of Cozens' father and was the only child of Alderman William Beckford, Lord Mayor of London and a man of very considerable means. They travelled at great speed and reached their destination, Rome at the beginning of summer, but having arrived at the height of the malarial season they left almost immediately for Naples. From July onwards Cozens drew pencil sketches washed in grey and blue ink, each inscribed with the location and date, making a short excursion down the coast to Salerno, Gaeta and Paestum he also made several sketches from Sir William Hamilton's villa at Portici and on the beach at Posillipo. Cozens later worked up these studies, which filled the seven sketchbooks mentioned above, into serene watercolours such as this work, and including others with sweeping views of the Bay of Naples and Vesuvius.

[1] C.R. Leslie, Memoirs of the life of John Constable, London 1843, p. 89
[2] See Beckford Sketch Books 1782 Vol. III, p. 11, but for similar views see also pp. 3, 4 and 10.
[3] Beckford eventually sold the collection at Christie's London on 10υth April 1805