Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.
Drawing of a landscape, made according to the 'blot' method pioneered by Alexander Cozens. A view of hills with a town below; a tree to the right. Made by Joseph Wright of Derby (1734 - 1797), c.1770. Ink on paper. Displayed in a cream window mount.

Exhibitions:

  • Title: Pictures by Joseph Wright of Derby
    Venue: Graves Art Gallery
    Dates: from 17/07/1950 to 27/07/1950
  • Title: Landscape in Britain
    Venue: Tate Gallery
    Dates: from 20/11/1973 to 03/02/1974
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: An Exhibition to Commemorate the Centenary of Derby Museums and Art Gallery
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 21/04/1979 to 21/07/1979
  • Title: Wright of Derby
    Venue: Tate Gallery
    Dates: from 16/04/1990 to 16/04/1990
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby, 1734-1797: Bicentenary Exhibition
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 21/06/1997 to 28/09/1997
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby in Liverpool
    Venue: Walker Art Gallery
    Dates: from 17/11/2007 to 24/02/2008
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Life on Paper
    Venue: Derby Museum and Art Gallery
    Dates: from 23/05/2025 to 07/09/2025

Publications

  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby 1734 - 1797
    Sub-Title: An introduction to the work of Joseph Wright of Derby with a catalogue of drawings held by Derby Museum and Art Gallery. Published on the occasion of an exhibition commemorating the Bicentenary of the artist's death.
    Published Place: Derby
    Published Year: 1997
  • Title: Joseph Wright of Derby: Painter of Light
    Sub-Title: Volume 1
    Volume: 1
    Published Place: London
    Copyright: Benedict Nicolson, 1968
    Published Year: 1968
  • Title: Alexander and John Robert Cozens
    Sub-Title: The Poetry of Landscape
    Published Place: New Haven and London
    Published Year: 1986

Related People

  • Joseph Wright of Derby (Artist)

    Display Date: British, 1734 - 1797

    Nationality: British

    Biography: Artist.

Blot Drawing of Landscape, in the manner of Alexander Cozens

Date: c. 1770

Medium: Ink on paper.

Object Type:Drawing
Dimensions:Support: 276 × 394 mm (10 7/8 × 15 1/2 in.)
Description:The 'Blot' basis for Landscape Study (see DBYMU 1937-739/4) following Alexander Cozens's 'New Method of Assisting the Invention in Drawing Original Compositions of Landscape', published in 1785-6. Wright sold some Cozen's drawings in December 1773 and, in 1786-1788, copied Cozens's work, including a blot drawing (recorded Wright's account book, National Portrait Gallery). [Wallis, J. 'Joseph Wright of Derby 1734 - 1797 An introduction to the work of Joseph Wright of Derby with a catalogue of drawings held by Derby Museum and Art Gallery' (Derby Museum and Art Gallery, 1997), p.103.] Kim Sloan had suggested that the present 'blot' and the drawing that developed from it (DBYMU 1937-739/4), was closer in style and execution to the black sketchy 'blot' drawings of Alexander Cozens's earlier 'Essay to Facilitate the Inventing of Landskips, intended for Students in the Art' (published 1759) than his 'New Method' of c.1785-6. [see Sloan, K. 'Alexander and John Robert Cozens: The Poetry of Landscape' (Yale, 1986), p.35. In her catalogue entry for this drawing Judy Egerton notes that the plates for Cozens’s ‘New Method’ were engraved by William Pether. She discusses Sloan’s rediscovery of the 1759 Essay and its implication for the dating of Wright’s two drawings, suggesting they may as early as c.1770 (when considered alongside ‘Rocks with Waterfall’ for instance). She suggests that Cozens and his methods may have exerted a large influence on Wright and his subsequent interest in landscape painting. [Egerton, J. ‘Wright of Derby’ (1990), pp.138-139.] This point was originally made Nicolson (see Nicolson, B. 1968, p.88.) Nicolson noted that Wright had evidently been interested/aware of Cozens’s methods in 1773, noting in his account book the purchase of some drawings by Cozens. [Nicolson, B. 1968, pp.75 (note 2) and 88.]
Provenance:...; William Bemrose of Derby; by descent to his son, Charles Lloyd Bemrose, by whom donated to Derby Museums in 1914.
Viewing Status:Contact Us
Item Ref:1914-517/2
Browse Collection
Browse Collection