William Cowen (18 June 1791 – 29 January 1864) was an English landscape painter. His work includes views of towns in

Yorkshire Yorkshire ( ; abbreviated Yorks), formally known as the County of York, is a historic county in northern England and by far the largest in the United Kingdom. Because of its large area in comparison with other English counties, functions have ...

, Italy, France, Ireland and particularly Corsica.

Life

Cowen was born in

Rotherham Rotherham () is a large minster and market town in South Yorkshire, England. The town takes its name from the River Rother which then merges with the River Don. The River Don then flows through the town centre. It is the main settlement of ...

in 1791 and worked teaching drawing in nearby

Sheffield Sheffield is a city in South Yorkshire, England, whose name derives from the River Sheaf which runs through it. The city serves as the administrative centre of the City of Sheffield. It is historically part of the West Riding of Yorkshire a ...

in 1811. Cowen was lucky enough to obtain William Fitzwilliam, 4th Earl Fitzwilliam as a patron, who paid for him to visit Italy via France and Switzerland in 1819 and 1822. In 1824 he published ''Six Views of Italian and Swiss Scenery'', which included his own engravings from his continental tours. View of Rotherham by William Cowen

In 1826

Ebenezer Rhodes Ebenezer Rhodes (1762–1839) was an English topographer, publisher, master cutler and artist. He became a prominent historian of Derbyshire. Life Born in Masborough near Rotherham, in 1762, Rhodes was educated at The Dinnington School, befor ...

published ''Yorkshire Scenery'', which included Cowen's ''View of Rotherham'' as well as two of his drawings of the ruined

Roche Abbey Roche Abbey is a now-ruined abbey in the civil parish of Maltby, Rotherham, South Yorkshire, England. It is in the valley of Maltby Dyke, known locally as Maltby Beck, and is administered by English Heritage. It is a scheduled monument and Gr ...

. This was intended to be the first volume of a set, but Rhodes failed to make a profit or publish more. Cowen was one of the eight people who founded the Royal Institute of Painters in Water Colours. The institute was launched with an opening exhibition in 1832 that attracted 300 paintings from 120 artists and, remarkably, made a profit. The organisation is still going but Cowen had left the organising committee by the following year. By this time Cowen had moved to London where he was based when not travelling on sketching trips. ''Chapel in the Oak'' by Cowen Cowen travelled to Corsica on 12 August 1840, which was seen as novel, and when he returned he completed a number of paintings, several being associated with the early life of the Corsican

Napoleon Bonaparte Napoleon Bonaparte ; it, Napoleone Bonaparte, ; co, Napulione Buonaparte. (born Napoleone Buonaparte; 15 August 1769 – 5 May 1821), later known by his regnal name Napoleon I, was a French military commander and political leader wh ...

. In 1848 Cowen gathered his Corsican pictures together to create a travelogue entitled ''Six Weeks in Corsica'', illustrated with fourteen engravings. He noted in the book how few visitors the island received and how much Corsica deserved investigation. This book was dedicated to his patron Earl Fitzwilliam. In the same year Cowen also contributed landscapes to the Free Exhibition of Modern Art at

Hyde Park Corner Hyde Park Corner is between Knightsbridge, Belgravia and Mayfair in London, England. It primarily refers to its major road junction at the southeastern corner of Hyde Park, that was designed by Decimus Burton. Six streets converge at the j ...

. This exhibition was more democratic than those put on by other institutions, attracting those unhappy with bodies such as the Royal Academy. An 1846 painting of Rotherham parish church indicates that he may have returned to his birthplace but he is known to have recreated paintings from sketches made years before. Cowen died in Brompton in 1864. His residence was Gibraltar Cottage in Thistle Grove.Delia Gaze, 'Cowen, William (1791–1864)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
Accessed 19 October 2013
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Legacy

010-brompton-cemetery-15c and Kensington Canal by William Cowen

Cowen has over a dozen paintings in public collections in the United Kingdom. Several are views of Sheffield and Rotherham and these are in the respective municipal collections. He has eleven water colours in the

British Museum The British Museum is a public museum dedicated to human history, art and culture located in the Bloomsbury area of London. Its permanent collection of eight million works is among the largest and most comprehensive in existence. It docum ...

and he also painted several views of Italy, France, Ireland and particularly Corsica. 31 sketches around the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea are owned by the local library and the drawings record lost sights like the

Kensington Canal The Kensington Canal was a canal, about two miles long, opened in 1828 in London from the River Thames on the parish boundary between Chelsea and Fulham, along the line of Counter's Creek, to a basin near Warwick Road in Kensington. It had one l ...

and others like the

Brompton Cemetery Brompton Cemetery (originally the West of London and Westminster Cemetery) is a London cemetery, managed by The Royal Parks, in West Brompton in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. It is one of the Magnificent Seven cemeteries. Establ ...

Idle days in southern Kensington: William Cowen country
Dave Walker, South Kensington Library, 2010. Accessed October 2013 where Cowen is buried.

References

External links

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cowen, William 19th-century English painters English male painters English landscape painters People from Rotherham 1791 births 1864 deaths 19th-century English male artists