John Robert Cozens

William Beckford (1760-1844),

his sale, London, Christie’s, 10 April 1805, lot 75 to 'Hoare',

possibly Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 2^nd Bt (1758-1838);

Frank W. Keen,

his sale, London, Christie's, 10 November 1933, lot 108;

H.C. Green Collection;

sale, London, Christie’s, 22 February 1952, lot 32 to 'Katz';

Prof. D.T. Donovan,

sale, London, Sotheby’s, 20 November 1969, lot 38,

Pierre Jeannerat, O.B.E. (1896-1967), 

his executor’s sale, London, Sotheby’s, 15 March 1984, lot 104;

sale, London, Sotheby’s, 14 July 1988, lot 68;

sale, London, Sotheby’s, 6 June 2007, lot 203,

where acquired by the uncle of the present owner

C.F. Bell & T. Girtin, 'The Sketches and Drawings of John Robert Cozens', Walpole Society, vol. xxiii, London 1935, p. 73, no. 375

The Tomb of the Horatii and Curatii is located on the Via Appia, Rome. It commemorates two sets of warrior triplets, the Horatii from Rome and the Curatii from Alba Longa. They lived during the reign of Tullus Hostilius and were commanded to fight against each other in order to settle a war between the two cities. Their myth was popular in the late 18^th century and the site of their tomb was often visited by Grand Tourists. Perhaps the most celebrated painting to tackle the theme is Jacques-Louis David’s 1784 Oath of the Horatii (Pris, Louvre). 

There is a preparatory pencil drawing, dated 1778, for this lot in the Victoria & Albert Museum.¹ Despite this, the present watercolour has been dated, on stylistic grounds, to circa 1783 and therefore after John Robert Cozens’ tour to Italy with his patron William Beckford.

In Beckford’s sale of 1805 seven watercolours by Cozens, including this one, are recorded as being acquired by ‘Hoare’.² Timothy Wilcox believes this may well have been Sir Richard Colt Hoare, 2^nd Bt, of Stourhead. 

We are grateful to Timothy Wilcox, Greg Smith and Emily MacCormack, Senior Collections Manager at Stourhead, for their help when cataloguing this lot.

1. London, Victoria & Albert Museum, inv. 3436-100
2. The seven watercolours bought by ‘Hoare’ at the 1805 sale were lots 34, 40, 48, 61, 75, 86 and 92