Cox was contemporary with Constable and Crowe. All three received but slight recognition of their merits while living; but since death their work has been highly praised and much sought after. Yet these men--and Cox particularly--were the first to carry out that direct study from nature which has become the characteristic of the English school, as distinct from the studio compositions and artificialities which flourished from the time of Claude to their own. There is every probability that the love for English scenery--scenery so full of colour and character; so varied and so changeful--has been greatly stimulated amongst the people by the fact that these artists have portrayed its beauties in their paintings, and have thus instilled a perception of, and love for, these beauties in nature. Of the works of Cox, the Art Gallery contains thirty-three oil paintings (the Nettlefold Bequest), and two or three water-colours. This is perhaps the finest collection of his oil colours extant, and among it may be specially mentioned: “Sheep Shearing” (27) and “Driving Cattle” (28), both full in colour, and simple and direct in execution; while “Changing Pasture” (9) may be cited as one of his best works. In the picture last mentioned, the sunset sky, the purplish blue distance, and the truth of the light in the middle distance and foreground should receive particular attention. “In the Hayfield” (26) is more in his water-colour manner; as is also his grand “Rhyl Sands” (10), in which the effect of the sea breeze is felt all over the picture. “Bettws Church” (11), “Tending Sheep, Bettws-y-Coed” (12), and “Evening” (24) are excellent examples of that quiet and unaffected, yet highly poetic treatment by which he ennobled the simplest materials; while “The Shrimpers” (31) is perhaps the best of his pictures of a sandy shore. “The Missing Lamb” (2) is interesting, in that it shows his method of commencing work. “Asking the Way” (40) is a fine example of his water-colours. In the midst of these beautiful specimens of Cox’s labour is placed “The Late David Cox” (17), by Sir John Watson Gordon--one of the most successful portraits of a great artist by a brother artist. Alike by its success and the evident sympathy between painter and subject, the work recalls the portrait of Hook by Sir J. E. Millais.