author
David Cox
1783–1859
A leading English landscape painter of the 19th century, he became famous for watercolours that catch shifting weather, light, and movement with unusual freshness. His scenes of the British countryside helped shape the Birmingham School and pointed ahead to later, looser styles of painting.
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About the author
Born in Birmingham on April 29, 1783, David Cox began working in the arts young, first in decorative and theatrical painting before moving to London in 1804. There he studied watercolour and built a career painting landscapes, especially scenes from Wales, the English countryside, and everyday rural life.
Cox is best remembered as one of the great figures of the golden age of English watercolour. Critics and later historians have often noted how lively and modern his work feels: instead of polished detail, he often focused on atmosphere, weather, and the quick effects of light across land and sky.
He later lived in Hereford, returned to London, and eventually settled near Birmingham at Harborne, where he died on June 7, 1859. Along with his importance to the Birmingham School of landscape artists, he is often described as an early precursor of Impressionism.