Alexander Cozens

Landscape Composition, with Cliff to Left

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In Tate Britain

Prints and Drawings Room

View by appointment
Artist
Alexander Cozens 1717–1786
Medium
Graphite, chalk and ink on paper
Dimensions
Support: 180 x 227 mm
Collection
Tate
Acquisition
Purchased as part of the Oppé Collection with assistance from the National Lottery through the Heritage Lottery Fund 1996
Reference
T08858

Display caption

In this drawing Cozens has used pen and ink to describe the various planes in the cliff face and distant hills. His technique of short parallel lines at different angles is especially suited to the reed pen. Sketchily applied soft red chalk underdrawing is visible through the pen and ink line work. Heavier pen pressure with denser ink lines combine with the horizontal line work to give prominence to the foreground. The sky with its faint, thin, horizontal ink lines takes second place to this desolate landscape.

Gallery label, August 2004

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