Cozens, Alexander

Cozens' early years were spent in St. Petersburg, where his father, Richard, originally from Deptford, England, was a master shipbuilder to Peter the Great. Alexander was educated in England from 1727. He is known as the first major English artist devoted to landscape, known for his method of using accidental blots to suggest landscape forms; his treatise explaining the method drew on Leonardo da Vinci. Usually monochromatic, his work suggests the power and mystery of nature. Comment on works: Landscapes