Crossing the moors

The sky in the present watercolour is reminiscent of that in Crossing the sands, the well known oil painting in the Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery (see S. Wildman, David Cox, 1783-1859, Birmingham, 1983, pl. 12, illustrated in colour). Both pictures belong to Cox's most picturesque landscapes, bearing out the idea that 'the most admirable landscapes are those that represent the interaction of man and nature at a level close to, or not artificially elevated above subsistence' (Wildman, op.cit., p. 14). The familiar group of figures battling against the elements was a motif of Cox's that illustrates the pathetic fallacy, human beings, part of the natural order but subject to its power.