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Artist or Maker: John Robert Cozens (1752-1797)

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Provenance: with J. Palser & Sons, London.

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Notes: THE PROPERTY OF A GENTLEMAN

This atmospheric drawing was probably made for Cozens's patron William Beckford, with whom he travelled in Italy in 1782, and a sketch of the subject, made on the spot, was amongst the studies in the Beckford sketchbooks (III,8) see fig. 1. The dimensions of the sheet correspond with those of several of the Beckford commissions, and the concentration of the image is characteristic of those works: the muted and elegiac palette of the views Cozens had made during and after his first Italian journey (with Richard Payne Knight, in 1776 and subsequent years) is intensified and enriched, so that even relatively small watercolours acquire a dignity and expressive force that anticipates the grand flights of the Romantic masters who were to emerge in the following decades.

The label on the back of the frame is inaccurate; we know the true title of the subject from an inscription by Cozens on his original sketch. The subject is reminiscent of an upright composition of 1780 by Francis Towne (British Museum, U.731) showing the gateway to the Villa Ludovisi in Rome, which also depicts a road between high walls dominated by a tall cypress. In Towne's view, the road is that which leads out of Rome from the Porta Pinciana, and, as Tim Wilcox has suggested, Towne avoids depicting the magnificent formal gardens of the Villa, preferring the more immediate experience of the public street. This is even more obviously Cozens's creative decision in the present drawing. Like the Villa Ludovisi cypress, the Franciscans' splendid tree is easily visible from outside their grounds, and the artist is not dependent on being a privileged visitor in order to enjoy it. As a result, we are allowed to share the sensations of the tourist who wanders the byways of Italian cities, drinking in the spirit of the past and revelling in their textures, even their sounds and smells.

Cozens occasionally enlisted the upright format to suggest the enclosed space of narrow streets in Italian towns. Here, the composition is clearly determined by the cypress that rears darkly against the luminous sky, where a flight of birds gives the viewer an intimation of the broad landscapes and open air beyond the confines of this shadowy spot. The intricate textures of the foliage have a manmade counterpart in the ancient stone wall that is obviously a feature of central interest for Cozens, who contrives to make it loom above our heads in a manner vividly evocative of the scale and antiquity of the structure. He enhances this effect still further by showing the figures who descend the long flight of shallow steps dwarfed by their surroundings.
The sketch was copied by Thomas Girtin and J.M.W.Turner for Dr Monro at one of his evening 'Academies' in the mid-1790s. Turner bought back the copy from Monro's sale in 1833, and it has remained in the Turner Bequest, TB CCCLXXV 9. The copy shows several substantial differences between the sketch and the final design as it appears in the present drawing. The building to the left was lower, with a domed roof, and the monastery buildings beyond the wall have been completely altered. The steps in the road were originally closer together, and significantly, the two figures were larger in relation to their surroundings, confirming Cozens's intention of increasing the drama of his picture by deliberate manipulations of scale.

We are grateful to Andrew Wilton for his help in preparing this catalogue entry.

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