Lot 102: ALEXANDER COZENS 1717-1786

signed on original mount: Alexr Cozens and inscribed u.l.: 4th Stile of Composition/4

A CLASSICAL LANDSCAPE WITH A TOWER BY A LAKE AND MOUNTAINS BEYOND

10.5 by 16 cm., 4 by 6 1/4 in.

black ink with brown wash on laid paper, with original wash-line mount, unframed

The present drawing relies on Cozens' technique of producing a 'blot' of ink in which form is conveyed through an almost 'abstract assemblage of accidental shapes.' Here, a seemingly random pattern of ink blots becomes a classical landscape with a tower and mountains beyond. This 'blot' technique dispenses with line and instead relies upon variations in tone to articulate detail, for as Cozens reveals 'in nature, forms are not distinguished by lines, but by shade and colour' (quoted by Michael Marqusee, Alexander Cozens A New Method of Landsape, 1977, p.10). Cozens described his 'blot' technique in A New Method of Assisting the Invention in Drawing Original Compositions of Landscape which was published shortly before he died in 1786