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David Cox Jr. went to great pains to distinguish his work from that of his father by adding "Junior" or "Junr." to his signature, and he was known this way throughout his life. His studio sale at Christie's on 14 and 15 April 1886, twenty-seven years after his father's death, was described as "the remaining works of David Cox Jun." His family had a stamp, "D. Cox Junior," made for the sale, and it was used liberally after this by his daughters on the hundreds of sketches that were not included in the studio sale. This watercolor, however, is signed, not stamped, indicating that it was either sold or exhibited during Cox Jr.'s lifetime. Although he traveled farther afield in his search for subjects, visiting Scotland and the Alps, the last of which his father never visited, the Welsh subjects so frequently treated by the elder Cox also formed a large part of Cox Jr.'s work and regularly featured among his exhibited works. It has been suggested in the past that the mountain range enclosing this view is Crib Goch, to the northeast of Snowdon, but it is much more likely to be Cwm Idwal, and the stream is therefore flowing down to the River Ogwen from Llyn Idwal, which is invisible over the brow of the hill.

Charles Nugent

Scott Wilcox, Sun, wind, and rain : the art of David Cox, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2008, pg. 238, cat. no. 123, NJ18 .C829 W542 + Oversize (YCBA)