Lake Nemi, looking towards Genzano

John Robert Cozens is one of the greatest names in the history of watercolor. The son of the highly original drawing-master Alexander Cozens (1717-1786), inventor of the 'Blot' technique of developing landscape compositions, John Robert learned from his father the expressive power of restraint, both of color and of line. His work, especially that inspired by the landscape of the Alps and Italy ranks among the supreme statements of rapt inwardness in front of grand nature. John Robert was temperamentally fragile, an often idle, melancholic man who ended his days in the care of Dr Thomas Monro (1759-1833), the well-known amateur artist, collector and doctor who attended George III and J.M.W. Turner's mother.

Cozens visited Italy twice, first in 1776 in the company of Richard Payne Knight (1751-1824), from whom he parted in Rome, staying until 1779 and secondly with William Beckford (1760-1844) in 1782. Beckford was a pupil of Cozens' father and only child of Alderman William Beckford, Lord Mayor of London and a man of considerable means. On Beckford's third journey to Italy he took J.R. Cozens as his draftsman and other members of his entourage included the tutor Dr. John Lettice, a musician called Burton, a physician and numerous other attendants. They arrived in the Tyrol and their route to Naples can be traced from Cozens' dated drawings in his seven sketchbooks now in the collection of the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester. On his return to England Cozens worked up finished commissions from his drawings, most importantly the set of views for Beckford. These drawings proved popular and for some subjects he completed a number of views based on the sketches he had made whilst travelling.

Lake Nemi was a favorite subject for Cozens, which he depicted from different viewpoints and including different points of interests in different versions, not all of them entirely topographically accurate. Here, he has added a steep bank to the left-hand side of the composition, replacing the flat plains of trees seen in other versions from this viewpoint, and the promontory on the left side of the lake protrudes further than in some versions. He has also included the town of Genzano on the far side of the lake, and Monte Circao on the distant horizon, incorporating points of interest from the surrounding area into a single composition. The effect of this is to create a more interesting and picturesque landscape, unrestrained by the details of topography. C.F. Bell and T. Girtin (‘The Drawings and Sketches of John Robert Cozens, Walpole Society, XXIII, 1935, p. 44) list seven versions of the present composition, in which this drawing is not included, in the Victoria and Albert Museum, London, the Fitzwilliam Museum, Cambridge, and the Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester.