Antwerp, Morning (1832)

David Cox prints bring the breezy skies, open heaths, beaches and Welsh hills of one of England's greatest landscape painters into your home. Cox was a leading figure of the Birmingham School and the golden age of English watercolour, and in his late oils an early forerunner of Impressionism. Our collection of fine art prints covers his watercolours of Wales, the coast, London and France, and his windswept late landscapes.

About David Cox

David Cox was born on 29 April 1783 in Deritend, an industrial suburb of Birmingham, the son of a blacksmith. Too frail for the forge, he studied at Joseph Barber's drawing academy, was apprenticed to a painter of miniatures, and from 1800 worked as a scene painter at the Birmingham Theatre, soon leading his own team.

In 1804 he moved to London to make his way as an artist. He published several drawing manuals, including his Treatise on Landscape Painting (1813), and in 1812 joined the Society of Painters in Water Colours. From 1814 he worked as a drawing master in Hereford, close to the scenery of North Wales and the Wye Valley, then lived in London from 1827. In 1839 two of his watercolours were bought for Queen Victoria, and that year he took lessons in oil painting from William James Müller.

In 1841 he moved to Harborne, near Birmingham, where he worked in watercolour in the mornings and oil in the afternoons. From 1844 he spent each summer painting outdoors at Betws-y-Coed in North Wales, where an artists' colony grew up around him. John Ruskin singled out his late work for praise. He died in Harborne on 7 June 1859; his son David Cox the Younger was also a painter.

Style and Subjects

Cox's watercolours are fresh, quick and full of weather. He loved wind and movement: clouds racing over open land, travellers bent against the breeze, waves rolling onto a beach. His touch is loose and broken.

His late oils, painted outdoors in Wales, are among the boldest English paintings of their time, and are now seen as one of the great, if overlooked, achievements of British art.

Famous Works

• Butcher's Row, Hereford (1815). One of his first great watercolours from his Hereford years.
• Crossing Lancaster Sands (mid-1830s). Travellers and carts crossing the vast tidal sands of Morecambe Bay.
• Bolton Abbey (c. 1850), Royal Birmingham Society of Artists. The ruined abbey by the River Wharfe in Yorkshire.
• Rhyl Sands (1854), Tate, London. Figures on a breezy beach, painted with remarkable freedom.
• The Challenge: A Bull in a Storm on the Moor (1856), Victoria and Albert Museum, London. A lone bull facing a gathering storm.
• The Wind on the Heath. Figures struggling across open country in a high wind, a favourite subject.
• Mountain Heights, Cader Idris. The Welsh mountain he painted on his many trips to Wales.

Decorating with Cox Prints

Cox's breezy landscapes suit a living room, study or hallway, where their soft greens, greys and sandy colours bring fresh air and light. They sit well in English country, coastal and modern interiors alike.

His beach and sea scenes, like Sunset from the Shore, are a good fit for a bathroom or seaside home, and his London views, such as The Thames at Battersea, make a handsome pair for a study.

FAQ

Who was David Cox?

David Cox (1783–1859) was an English landscape painter from Birmingham, one of the greatest painters of the golden age of English watercolour and a leading member of the Birmingham School.

What is David Cox known for?

He is known for his breezy, atmospheric watercolours of Wales, beaches and open heaths, and for the bold oil paintings of his last years.

Was David Cox an Impressionist?

No, but his loose, outdoor painting of light and weather has led him to be seen as an early forerunner of Impressionism.

Where can I see David Cox's paintings?

Tate, the Victoria and Albert Museum, the National Trust and the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists hold his work. Blue plaques mark his homes in Harborne and Kennington.

Related Artists

• William James Müller: taught him oil painting in 1839
• Peter De Wint: fellow master of English landscape watercolour
• John Sell Cotman: English watercolourist of the same generation
• Joseph Mallord William Turner: the great English painter of light and weather of his time