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John Robert Cozens was born in London and studied with his father, who was also a watercolourist and had good connections in the British art world. His mother was the daughter of John Pine, a close associate of William Hogarth. In 1776, Cozens exhibited a large oil painting at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. After this first artistic success, he spent three years in Switzerland and Italy, where he drew wide, quiet mountain landscapes, including "The Lake of Nemi" and "The Bay of Naples at Capodimonte".
Often he combined blue, green and grey watercolours to create a melancholy mood. His work also influenced the later works of Thomas Girtin and J.M.W. Turner. Cozens lived in seclusion and never sought financial success, but always followed his own artistic interests. When he offered prints and drawings showing forest trees and their leaves to the Royal Academy, the Academy brusquely rejected them because they were not art.
At the age of 42, Cozens suffered a nervous breakdown. It was only thanks to the help of the local chief physician and art lover Dr. Thomas Monro that Cozens was not admitted to a mental hospital. Until his death three years later, Cozens remained in the private care and custody of the doctor.
John Robert Cozens was born in London and studied with his father, who was also a watercolourist and had good connections in the British art world. His mother was the daughter of John Pine, a close associate of William Hogarth. In 1776, Cozens exhibited a large oil painting at the Royal Academy of Arts in London. After this first artistic success, he spent three years in Switzerland and Italy, where he drew wide, quiet mountain landscapes, including "The Lake of Nemi" and "The Bay of Naples at Capodimonte".
Often he combined blue, green and grey watercolours to create a melancholy mood. His work also influenced the later works of Thomas Girtin and J.M.W. Turner. Cozens lived in seclusion and never sought financial success, but always followed his own artistic interests. When he offered prints and drawings showing forest trees and their leaves to the Royal Academy, the Academy brusquely rejected them because they were not art.
At the age of 42, Cozens suffered a nervous breakdown. It was only thanks to the help of the local chief physician and art lover Dr. Thomas Monro that Cozens was not admitted to a mental hospital. Until his death three years later, Cozens remained in the private care and custody of the doctor.