David Cox, RWS

Signed and dated l.l.: David Cox. 1836, watercolour over pencil with scratching out18 x 26 cmIn the summer of 1836 Cox spent a few weeks at Rowsley, painting at Haddon Hall. He made several watercolours of elegant figures in seventeenth century costume strolling on the terrace there to which the present work relates. Although the present work does not appear to be of Haddon, it fits in with this period of his oeuvre.

Inscribed l.r.: Bruges, watercolour7.6 x 11.4 cm; 3 x 4½ inchesProvenanceSpink & Son Ltd, London, K3/1890b, part of a group purchased from Appleby Brothers, 2 August 1960.This spontaneous, on-the-spot sketch was presumably done when Cox visited Bruges in 1826. His first trip to the Continent was organised by his brother-in-law Mr Gardener, an agent for the sale of government ordnance maps who had premises at 163 Regent Street, London. Gardener persuaded Cox and his son David Cox Jr to accompany him on a business trip to Brussels. The party travelled from Dover to Calais and then, travelling by diligence, on to Dunkerque, Bruges and Brussels. Cox evidently liked the caps worn by the market women in Belgium as he sketched them again in Brussels.1 1.See N. Neil Solly, Memoir of the Life of David Cox, 1873, reprinted 1973, p. 49.

Signed l.l.: David Cox., watercolour over traces of pencil with touches of pen and black ink on buff paper29.6 x 39 cm; 11 ¾ x 15 ⅜ inchesProvenance: Agnew’s, London, 126th annual exhibition, March 1999, no. 63; The Flannery collection, UK, and by descent until 2018.This very freely drawn watercolour represents a transitional stage in the development of the important theme of ‘Peace and War’, one of David Cox’s major subjects. Two local men, one seated, one standing, watch a small troop of soldiers on the march in an extensive sweeping landscape under a huge sky, with Lancaster Castle in the middle distance and the waters of Morecambe Bay beyond. Unusually for Cox there is not much pencil underdrawing.Cox’s preoccupation with military activity during the very unsettled years of the 1830s and 1840s manifests itself after his 1838 trip with his wife to Seabrook, near Hythe in Kent, for six weeks. The artist made sketching trips along the coast of Kent, including one to Lympne, five miles from Hythe, resulting in Peace and War: Lympne Castle ( c. 1838, Birmingham Museums & Art Gallery).The present work, which is similar in style and feel to the Lympne watercolour, presumably dates from the same time, but shows the composition reversed and the distant focus of Lancaster Castle as in Lancaster: Peace and War, 1842 (Art Institute of Chicago). Most of Cox’s numerous ‘Peace and War’ subjects are set at Lancaster rather than Lympne and have more developed references to ‘War’ than the small troop of riders seen here on the top of the hill on the left.The theme is repeatedly treated by Cox at this period, resulting in his 1838 exhibits at the Society of Painters in Water-colours in London, Rocky Scene – Infantry on the March and Stirling Castle – Cavalry on the March and the 1839 Cavalry on the March. In 1848 the first work to be entitled Peace and War (Lady Lever Art Gallery, Port Sunlight, National Museums Liverpool) was exhibited at the Society of Painters in Water-colours.

KT587Signed and dated l.l.: D. Cox/1824, watercolour over pencil22.6 x 28.9 cm.; 8 ¾ x 11 3/8 inchesProvenanceColnaghi (exhibited as ‘In the Wye Valley’);Viscount Eccles (1905-1994);Abbott and Holder; from where acquired byPeter Roberts until 2023ExhibitedProbably the Society of Painters in Water-Colours, 1824, no. 289, Hay Field – View near HerefordThis charming watercolour is a fine example of the fluent small-scale drawings with which Cox had commercial success in the mid to late 1820s.He wrote to William Radclyffe that he intended to devote more time to saleable smaller works, as his larger pictures were not finding buyers (Scott Wilcox points out that his discovery of the elegant small watercolours by Bonington at this date would have provided a compelling model (See Scott Wilcox, ed., Sun, Wind, and Rain: The Art of David Cox, exhibition catalogue, Yale Centre for British Art, p. 36).The castellated church in in middle distance may well be modelled on St Peter’s, Lugwardine. The building to the right of the church bears a passing resemblance to Sufton Court (which is not so close to the church). Cox was an artist, not a topographer, and frequently modified landscapes and landmarks to suit his artistic vision.Viscount (David) Eccles (1905-1994) had a fine collection of 18th and 19th century British drawings. He was a politician who organised the coronation of Queen Elizabeth II. After being sacked by Harold Macmillan in July 1962 he went back into business, first as a director of Courtaulds and later as chairman of West Cumberland Silk Mills.Peter Roberts was a school master and collector of English watercolours who taught English at Oundle School until his retirement in 2007.

Watercolour over pencil with scratching out18.2 x 22.8 cm.; 7 ¼ x 9 1/8 inchesProvenanceQuentin and Molly Bridge until 2020ExhibitedMartyn Gregory, British Watercolours & Drawings, 2020, no. 8This charming early drawing by Cox dates to circa 1815. A woman and a child can be seen collecting water in a bucket from a stream near a wooden bridge by a cottage. The child appears to be wearing a black Welsh hat.

Inscribed verso: At Dulwich, sepia wash15.5 x 11.3 cm.; 6 1/8 x 4 3/8 inchesThis drawing was executed while Cox was living in Dulwich between 1809 - 1813, in the house beside the windmill on Dulwich Common.ExhibitedDulwich Picture Gallery, ‘Bicentenary Exhibition’, catalogue no. 4;Dulwich Picture Gallery, ‘Dulwich Past and Present’, summer 1993ProvenanceThe Carnegie family;By descent to Lord Rosehill;Anthony Reed, English Drawings and Paintings, Cork Street, London W1;Sotheby’s, 1 April 1993, lot 75;Barbara Brind;By descent until 2022

Watercolour over pencil21 x 29.8 cm; 8¼ x 11¾ inchesProvenanceJohn Manning Ltd, London.This watercolour shows the main gatehouse of Raglan Castle, largely built by William ap Thomas in the mid fifteenth century. Raglan is not far from Hereford, Cox’s home for many years, and the artist drew several watercolours of the castle, one of which, a distant view of the ruin, was engraved by J. H. Clark.

Watercolour over pencil heightened with bodycolour on‘Scotch’ paper, inscribed on old mount: ‘Vale of Dolwyddelan N.W.’21 x 29cmProvenanceSotheby’s, 25 November 1999, lot 70;Professor Anthony Bryer, 1999-2017Cox painted Wales throughout his life but from 1842 his annual visits to North Wales and Betws-y-Coed became central to his oeuvre. He exhibited views of the Vale of Dolwyddelan in 1846, 1847 and 1851. His love for the wild and beautiful scenery of the area inspired his work and the present watercolour captures the drama of the landscape with the characteristic bravura of Cox’s later drawings.

Signed l.r.: D. COX., watercolour over traces of pencil with scratching out and touches of gum arabic21.3 x 34 cm.; 8 3/8 x 13 3/8 inchesProvenanceGuy D. Harvey-Samuel (1887-1960);Fine Art Society, Annual Exhibition of English Drawings and Watercolours, April 1960; no. 108;Private collection, U.K. until 2020This sparkling watercolour in superb condition and dating from circa 1824 is a fine example of the fluent small-scale drawings with which Cox had commercial success in the mid to late 1820s.He wrote to William Radclyffe that he intended to devote more time to saleable smaller works, as his larger pictures were not finding buyers (Scott Wilcox points out that his discovery of the elegant small watercolours by Bonington at this date would have provided a compelling model (See Scott Wilcox, ed., Sun, Wind, and Rain: The Art of David Cox, exhibition catalogue, Yale Centre for British Art, p. 36).Cox drew several versions of this view; the closest to this one is a slightly larger drawing in the British Museum (1915,0313.6). Another version was engraved by William Radclyffe as plate XI in Thomas Roscoe’sWanderings and Excursions in South Wales in 1837 in which agricultural labourers and their horses replace the sheep and cattle in the foreground. Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery have a slightly smaller version with sheep in the foreground (1927P678 and see David Cox, Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery, 2008-9, no. 31).