Born in Birmingham in 1783, David Cox was destined to become a major figure in the linked worlds of landscape painting and watercolour painting in the first half of the nineteenth century. Remarkably, no significant study of the artist has been undertaken in more than a century. This beautifully illustrated volume focuses much-needed attention on Cox, filling in the details of his biography and illuminating his contributions to British landscape painting.Cox's widely-known "Sun, Wind, and Rain", painted in 1845, is emblematic of his connections with J.M.W. Turner and other contemporary Romantic landscape painters - artists who shared a concern with the representation of light and atmosphere and weather. Scott Wilcox's chapter in this book investigates Cox's artistic identity and his legacy. Other chapters address such topics as Birmingham's cultural milieu; myths about Cox's life; the papers he chose; his painting in oils; and the fakes, forgeries, and misattributions that have challenged all attempts to identify his oeuvre with certainty.