Landscape with Riverbed and Mountains

1770–86
Not on view
This mountainous landscape with a rocky, sundrenched foreground and a winding riverbed or valley is a beautiful example of the kinds of imaginary views Alexander Cozens produced during the 1770s and 1780s. Built up from broad washes, hatching, and stippling, applied with a brush in varying shades of gray and set off against a uniform yellowish wash as the lightest tone, the two boulders or mountains emerge from a sophisticated interplay and interlacing of light and dark patches of ink. The almost complete absence of vegetation as well as human or animal life lend this work a dreamlike quality.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Landscape with Riverbed and Mountains
  • Artist: Alexander Cozens (British, Russia 1717–1786 London)
  • Date: 1770–86
  • Medium: Brush and gray and yellow wash; laid down on original paper mount with gray wash
  • Dimensions: Sheet: 9 1/8 × 12 5/16 in. (23.2 × 31.2 cm)
    Mount: 13 3/4 in. × 17 5/16 in. (35 × 43.9 cm)
  • Classification: Drawings
  • Credit Line: Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1930
  • Object Number: 30.49.7
  • Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints

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