While his life began and ended in Birmingham, David Cox had a wide-ranging career that took him from London to Hereford in pursuit of his art.
Cox studied under the celebrated landscape artists Joseph Barber and John Varley, and by 1810 he had been appointed President of the Associated Artists in Watercolour, a master of atmospheric effects and a respected painter in his own right. This landscape was painted during CoxÂ’s sketching tour of the Wye Valley, where he lived from 1814 to 1827. It shows the ruins of Tintern Abbey viewed from the opposite bank of the Wye, looking west towards the sunset. Cattle approach the river through the ruins, while curls of smoke rise from the village in the hills above the abbey.
Provenance
James Orrock; with the Fine Art Society, September 1966. The Museum has been asked to provide an Art Loss Register certificate.