Collection: Private Collection, New York

Dahl trained in Sweden but at the age of 23 came to England and between 1682 and 1683 according to Vertue was an associate or pupil of Godfrey Kneller. In 1685 he left England for France and Italy, studying in Rome for two years. Here he converted to Roman Catholicism and gravitated towards the circle of Queen Christina who while resident in Rome had also converted. In 1685 Dahl secured a commission to paint a portrait of Queen Christina (Grimthorpe Castle, Duke of Ancaster Collection, canvas 50 x 40 inches) which secured him instant success not only in Rome but also in England on his return there in 1688 – 89. Many of Dahl’s new clients in London were Swedish émigrés and diplomats and he rapidly became one of this closely-knit Swedish circle.

This charming portrait may represent Eleonora Leijoncrona (1700 – 1777) the daughter of one of Dahl’s closest friends, the Swedish poet and diplomat, Christoffer Leijoncrona. Dahl had painted Christoffer’s portrait and that of his wife Francoise Leijoncrona (canvas 50½ x 42½ inches each) around 1700 – 1705. These two portraits were originally in the collection of the Countess Berg von Linde (Kallunda, Skane) and are now in the Nationalmuseum, Stockholm, (W. Nisser, Michael Dahl and the Contemporary Swedish School of Painting in England, 1927, nos 87 & 88). Dahl also painted a portrait of their eldest daughter Hedvig who was born in London in 1698 and who later married Erik Rappe. Like Dahl’s portraits of her parents, this painting belonged to the Countess Berg von Linde and is now in a Swedish private collection. Our portrait shows a little girl with a strong physical resemblance to Hedvig. She is portrayed in the same pose wearing the same pink dress and with the same landscape background behind her. Although the Leijoncronas had two other daughters, Barbara and Dorotea, Eleonora seems the most likely sitter since she was so close in age to Hedvig. Stylistically, the dating of the portrait to around 1705 also seems convincing.

Nisser (op. cit.) has pointed to the rarity of child portraiture in Dahl’s oeuvre, especially that of little girls. The artist has created a particularly touching effect in both portraits by portraying the sisters wearing voluminous dresses and trains as they stand on tiptoe by a stream clutching their baskets of fruit. The artist’s distinction as a colourist is particularly evident here in the contrast of pale pink with green and silver grey to produce the exotic effect of satin. Sir Oliver Millar has kindly confirmed the attribution of this portrait to Michael Dahl.

Eleonora Leijoncrona (1700 – 1770) married first Tomas Georg Rudebeck (1695 – 1740) and secondly in 1741 Johan Gustaf Ekelund (1687 – 1753).

Collections: William Beckford, his sale Christie’s, 10 April 1805, (84) ‘a picturesque scene, tinted in a rich and brilliant tone’ bought by Hearne; Charles Sackville Bale, his sale Christie’s, 10 June 1881, (36); C. Morland Agnew; Hugh L. Agnew and thence by descent

Exhibited: Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1871, Exhibition of Drawings in Water Colours by Artists born anterior to 1800, (240); Royal Academy, London, 1891, The Old Masters, including Water Colour Drawings, (19); Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 1891, Watercolour Drawings, (10); Agnew’s, London, 1919, Selected Water-Colour Drawings by Artists of the Early English School, (42); Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1922-3, Drawings by John Robert Cozens, (19), pl. XII; Royal Academy, London, 1934, Exhibition of British Art, c. 1000-1860, (704); Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 1937, Water-Colour Drawings by J.R. Cozens and J.S Cotman, (65); Castle Museum, Norwich, 1955, A Selection of English Watercolours, c. 1750 – c. 1820, (21); Whitworth Art Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum, 1971,Watercolours by John Robert Cozens, (79)

Literature: F. Gibson, The Art of Alexander and John Robert Cozens, ‘Studio’, Feb. 1917, p. 14, repr. p. 11 in colour; A.J. Finberg, Early English Watercolour Drawings by the Great Masters, ‘Studio’ Special Number, 1919, pp. 24-5, pl. XXIX in colour; Charles F. Bell and Thomas Girtin, The Drawings and Sketches of John Robert Cozens, The Walpole Society, Vol. 23, 1935, p. 72, no. 368, pl. XXVIIIa; Henri Lemaitre, Le Paysage Anglais à l’Aquarelle, Paris, 1955, p. 126 note 1

In 1782 Cozens made his second visit to Italy as draughtsman to his patron, the capricious and eccentric antiquarian William Beckford (1766 – 1844). Beckford was famously described as ‘England’s wealthiest son’. Also travelling in the party were Beckford’s tutor, Dr John Lettice and the musician John Burton. They arrived in Naples in July in suffocating heat and stayed at the villa of Sir William Hamilton at Pozzuoli. All succumbed to malarial fever and Cozens was forced to remain there until he recovered.

In late summer, while Beckford stayed at Sir William Hamilton’s villa at Portici, Cozens travelled south to Vietri and Salerno making sketches for his young and demanding patron. In early December 1782, Cozens was ‘finally released from the shackles of Beckford’s folly and caprice’ (K. Sloan, Alexander & John Cozens, The Poetry of Landscape, Exhibition catalogue, Victoria & Albert, 1986, p.150) and travelled back to Rome where he remained until September 1783. In Rome he felt more at ease and was able to frequent the English community which included English aristocrats and artists such as Gavin Hamilton, Angelica Kauffmann and Jacob More. He drew predominantly in the gardens of the Roman villas, the villa Pamphili, the villa Borghese and the villa Negroni where he is known to have been sketching in January 1783. Cozens produced seven sketchbooks on this journey which are now in the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, and from these sketches, produced for Beckford nearly one hundred finished watercolours. They have been described as ‘Cozens’s most magnificent, beautiful and inspiring works’ and the present watercolour is an outstanding example from the series. The artist’s ‘passion for solitude’ and his ‘exquisite sense for the marvellous stillness…the infinitely remote, the impalpable, the surrendered spirit’ is admiringly exemplified in this beautiful, romantic drawing. Constable’s verdict that Cozens ‘was the greatest genius that ever touched landscape’ and that his art was ‘all poetry’ could not have been a more fitting tribute to the greatest English watercolourist of the eighteenth century.

The Villa Negroni or Villa Peretti, as it was called in the seventeenth century originally belonged to Pope Sixtus V who subsequently sold it to Cardinal Francesco Negroni in 1696. Its famous gardens originally contained Bernini’s great marble sculpture ‘Neptune and Triton’, now in the Victoria & Albert Museum.

A preparatory drawing for the present watercolour, (chalk on prepared blue paper, 191 x 261 mm) dated 27 January 1783, is in a Scottish private collection. It was originally in the collection of the Dukes of Hamilton (repr. K Sloan, op.cit Fig 168).

Another watercolour of the Gardens of the Villa Negroni, also from the Beckford collection was recorded with the Leger Galleries in 1974. This is a more formal view of part of the garden showing the statuary and two seated figures.

In the Valley near Vietri

Collections: Sir Charles Robinson; C. Morland Agnew; Miss E. M. Agnew; Hugh L. Agnew and thence by descent

Exhibited: Agnew’s, 1919, Selected Water-Colour Drawings by Artists of the Early English School, (47); Burlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1922-3, Drawings by John Robert Cozens, (27), pl. XV; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, 1937, Water-Colour Drawings by J.R. Cozens and J.S Cotman, (66); Royal Academy, London, European Masters of the Eighteenth Century, 1954-5, (550); Whitworth Art Gallery and Victoria and Albert Museum, 1971, Watercolours by John Robert Cozens, (55)

Literature: Charles F. Bell and Thomas Girtin, The Drawings and Sketches of John Robert Cozens, The Walpole Society, Vol. 23, 1935, p. 59, no. 264, pl. XXIa; A.P. Oppé, Alexander and John Robert Cozens, London, 1952; Henri Lemaitre, Le Paysage Anglais à l’Aquarelle, Paris, 1955, p. 126 note 1

In 1782 Cozens made his second visit to Italy as draughtsman to his patron, the capricious and eccentric antiquarian William Beckford (1766 – 1844). Beckford was famously described as ‘England’s wealthiest son’. Also travelling in the party were Beckford’s tutor, Dr John Lettice and the musician John Burton. They arrived in Naples in July in suffocating heat and stayed at the villa of Sir William Hamilton at Pozzuoli. All succumbed to malarial fever and Cozens was forced to remain there until he recovered.

In August and September, Cozens was with Beckford at Sir William Hamilton’s villa at Portici and travelled the countryside and coastline recording sites for his patron. The finished watercolours were intended to provide ‘a landscape imagery that would illustrate Beckford’s response to each scene’ (K. Sloan, Alexander & John Cozens, The Poetry of Landscape, Exhibition catalogue, Victoria & Albert, 1986, p.147). Cozens spent much more of his time drawing the beautiful coastline between Vietri and Salerno and examples of his finished watercolours based on these sketches, are to be found in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, Bedford, (see K. Sloan, opcit. Figs.163-165). He recorded the coast in constantly changing weathers but in the present watercolour he has chosen to depict a more pastoral landscape in rural Campania. It is based on a sketch in the Whitworth Art Gallery which is dated September 20 1782 and inscribed ‘In the Valley near Vietri’. It is almost Claudean in composition, the peace of the convent and the valley reflecting Cozens’ own passion for solitude.

Turner made a watercolour copy of this drawing (Yale Center for British Art) slightly smaller in size and dateable to around 1794, (7 x 9 inches, 178 x 232 mm.).