Lot 374: Alexander Cozens (Russia 1717-1786 London)

Alexander Cozens (Russia 1717-1786 London)
Two landscape studies
both signed 'Alexυr: Cozens.' (lower right in the margin) one with inscription 'The principal Light in the Sky', one with inscription 'the principal Light in the Land,' (lower left, in the margin)
pen and black ink and grey wash on paper, varnished
4 1/8 x 6 1/8 in. (10.5 x 15.5 cm.)
a pair (2)

Property from the Collection of the late John Appleby
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Dateable to the first half of the 1760s. The high level of finish and the accompanying inscriptions suggest that they relate to one of Cozens' publications; either finished examples of the 1759 Essay to Facilitate the Inventing of Landskip Composition or in preparation for the 1765 A Treatise on Perspective and Rules for Shading by Invention, which does not survive in its completed form. Cozens executed finished examples to illustrate his publications, see K. Sloan, Alexander and John Roberts Cozens, The Poetry of Landscape, New Haven and London, 1986, p. 44, figs. 51 and 52. These works may have been used by his students to copy from. Their importance however relates to his publications which were continually evolving.