David Cox (artist)

David Cox ( born April 29, 1783 in Birmingham, † June 7, 1859 in Harbourne at Birmingham ) was an English artist and painter.

Life and work

David Cox was the son of a blacksmith from Birmingham. In 1803 he went to London and worked as a scene painter at Astley Theater and studied under John Varley alongside watercolor painting.

Two years later he received a professorship at the Royal Academy of Arts, and published several books on watercolor and landscape painting. Finally, he was elected member of the Society of Painters in Watercolours. In 1826 he went on a study trip to the Netherlands, Belgium and France.

Various watercolors David Cox 'are located in the Lady Lever Art Gallerey, Port Sunlight, Merseyside, England. The works were acquired by the founder of the museum, the Viscount Leverhulme in the art trade. Of these, some have now been identified as fakes.

David Cox, called the Elder, was one of the most important English landscape painters, and was a pioneer of Impressionism. His son David (1809-1885), from his marriage to Mary Agg, was also a painter.