Early Life
Cox was born on 29 April 1783 in Deritend, Birmingham, the son of a blacksmith, who went on to become one of the most important figures in British Art during the so-called Golden Age of watercolour painting. He was considered by his contemporaries to be rivalled only by Constable in his portrayal of nature's moods and the British weather. In 1852 The Spectator claimed, "in his works there are power and insight enough to swamp all the others put together."
He studied drawing under Joseph Barber before being apprenticed to a maker of fancy articles named Fieldler in around 1798, where he soon learnt to paint portrait miniatures. Following Fieldlers suicide, he was next employed as an assistant to scene-painter De Maria in the Birmingham Theatre. In 1804, he took up work as a scene painter at Astleys Theatre and moved to London living in Vassall Road, Brixton. While living in London, Cox married his landlord's daughter, Mary Agg and the couple moved to Dulwich in 1808. In the same year, he abandoned scene-painting for the theatre, and took up watercolour painting for which he became famous.
Read more about this topic: David Cox (artist)
Famous quotes containing the words early and/or life:
“[In early adolescence] she becomes acutely aware of herself as a being perceived by others, judged by others, though she herself is the harshest judge, quick to list her physical flaws, quick to undervalue and under-rate herself not only in terms of physical appearance but across a wide range of talents, capacities and even social status, whereas boys of the same age will cite their abilities, their talents and their social status pretty accurately.”
—Terri Apter (20th century)
“The arbitrary division of one’s life into weeks and days and hours seemed, on the whole, useless. There was but one day for the men, and that was pay day, and one for the women, and that was rent day. As for the children, every day was theirs, just as it should be in every corner of the world.”
—Alice Caldwell Rice (1870–1942)