Plate 24: West front of St. Botolph’s Priory, Colchester, Essex

This is the twenty-ninth article in a catalogue of John Sell Cotman’s first series of etchings published in 1811. Here we arrive at plate 24, the last of the published series. Cotman considered it one of his best plates, and presented it as his finale.

This is a landscape composition of the remains of the front of a grand medieval church seen from an oblique angle to the left. A large Norman portal is surmounted by two blind arcades of interlocking brick arches. Above that is the broken remains of a large rose window, flanked on the right by a brick arch with, above that, the stump of a further arcade of blind round arches. To the left is a tall, weathered arcade of round arches, evidently the remains of a nave arcade. The foreground is composed of rough ground, closed off from the ruins by a fence of rude shuttering. To the right of the portal is a decayed lean-to byre in which cattle and sheep are sheltering.  In the left foreground stands a solitary figure, evidently lost in thought. The subject is identified in a title given as if carved on a large block of stone; ‘ST – BOTOLPHS – PRIORY –ESSEX’. Below that Cotman has inscribed ‘Drawn and Etched by J.S.Cotman’ and to the bottom left, just below the image, ‘Norwich Published Feby 20^th by J S Cotman St Andrews Street 1811’.

The plate was etched by Cotman for his first series of ‘Etchings by John Sell Cotman’. This was issued to subscribers in parts, and the present subject formed the final plate, no.24 in the complete edition as published in 1811. It is the fifteenth plate of the series in date order, being dated two weeks after Howden (plate 23). At the beginning of 1811 Cotman gained his full confidence in etching, and tackled a series of his largest plates.  This is only very slightly smaller than Howden which is the largest of all. Although it was finished just a little over halfway through the sequence, it was reserved to provide the series finale.

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Colchester is sixty miles from Norwich by the high road to London, nineteen miles beyond Ipswich. Sydney Kitson (Life of John Sell Cotman, 1937, p.67) suggested that Cotman called in at St Botolph’s in July 1804 whilst travelling from London to stay with Dawson Turner and his family at Covehithe on the Suffolk Coast. Miklos Rajnai (The Early Drawings of John Sell Cotman, Norwich Castle Museum, 1979, under no.36) observes a lack of documentation for this and points out that Cotman could have paused in Colchester on any of his journeys between Norwich and London. As we have seen in previous plates, particularly that of Crowland Abbey (plate 22), in 1804 Cotman was especially alert to abbeys and churches, and in the absence of any other evidence, it does seem that Kitson’s suggestion has distinct plausibility.

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Cotman’s subject is the west front seen from the north-west. The church was built as an Augustinian Priory and completed about 1150, and is particularly attractive for its construction of lighter stone (limestone and flint) with red brick detailing. Much of the brick and stone is Roman and recycled from the ruins of buildings from the Roman town of Colchester. The remains survive almost exactly as recorded in the etching, but Cotman’s view is somewhat hampered by trees.

None of Cotman’s on-the-spot sketches are known to me, unless a pencil and wash drawing, 10 ¼ x 14 ins exhibited by Oscar and Peter Johnson Ltd in 1968 (Influence of Crome, 1968 no.68, a repr. is at the Witt Library, London) can be identified as such.

The earliest-known treatment of the subject is a small watercolour study in the Leeds collection (LEEAG.1952.0005.0051). This is much more concerned with broader matters of colour and tone than with architectural detail. Starting with the principal mass of the west front with its harmonies of brick red against yellow ochre, Cotman sets that in a variety of green tones for the backdrop and foreground, works out how the neutral hue of the nave to the left will respond to both background and sky, and finally selects a dusky pink for the inside of the portal and the rough byre to the right in order to keynote the whole composition.

This little watercolour has received relatively little scholarly attention apart from my 2017 entry in the online catalogue of the Leeds Cotman collection. There I dated it to 1804 and even suggested that it might have been painted from nature. Looking at the watercolour again, both propositions seem to require qualification. It now appears to be a rehearsal of a colour and lighting scheme for a finished composition, and the colour choices, particularly the pink seem more adventurous than anything he would have attempted in 1804. A more likely date would be after he removed from London to Norwich in 1806, possibly 1807 in which year he developed a composition to exhibit at Norwich Society of Artists, 1807 no. 140 as ‘St Botolph’s Priory, Colchester’.

The Leeds watercolour subsequently formed the basis of a studio watercolour at Norwich Castle Museum (NWHCM : 1947.217.128), which might with some confidence be identified as the work exhibited at the Norwich Society of Artists in 1807 no.140. In comparison to the poetic freedom of the Leeds watercolour, however, the finished work is more deliberate and altogether more conscious of the requirements of the market. The carefree fluidity of the study is replaced by control, the frankness of colour by moderation and the suggestion of detail by definition. The architectural detail is particularly finely handled, as is the byre to the right, with its complex of reserved lights, but, it has to be said, the two sheep in the foreground probably constitute an over-elaboration. Sadly, we cannot now enjoy quite the colour that Cotman envisaged for it through the Leeds watercolour. Most of its original indigo has faded. The original effect would have been richer and more dramatic and filled with nuances that we can only now imagine. The watercolour, or at least one of the same subject, served to stimulate the antiquarian interests of Cotman’s Yarmouth patron, Dawson Turner, and it hung in the family home above his bank at Great Yarmouth until a posthumous sale in 1859 [Puttick & Simpson, 16 – 23 May – 17 May, 1858, lot 811 Drawings (Original) … Cotman J.S.. St Botolph’s Priory, Colchester.. All in colour’]. Dawson Turner’s interest in the subject might well have been a factor in Cotman selecting it for inclusion in the series. Turner was one of Cotman’s principal references with regard to matters antiquarian, and the whole series must to some extent have been developed with his Yarmouth patron in mind.

Cotman considered St Botolph’s his best plate, although it did not turn out quite as he intended.  On 6 March 1811, three weeks after finishing and dating it, he wrote to his Yorkshire patron Francis Cholmeley: ‘An accident happened to the best plate I ever etched; whilst biting, stopping out some parts that ought to be feignt, the wax melted from too strong a heat and the whole bares [sic] the same proportion of tint. The plate took me nearly three weeks – it is St Botolph’s Priory, Colchester. You will have it in the work. ‘

It is worth given some thought to what exactly happened here. Etching is a process fraught with risk: Handprinted.co.uk gives a modern overview of the complexities. There is labour in preparing and grounding the plate, drawing the design in the wax ground with a needle and then etching the plate with acid; often repeating the whole cycle to achieve a variety of tone and effect. The immersion in acid has the potential to ruin the whole work at any stage, and even after that, the printing process is fraught with potential accident and damage. Here Cotman had evidently etched the plate to an intermediate [faint] stage. He then sought to apply more ground to stop out the parts that he wanted to preserve and then re-immersed the plate in acid so as to bite the remaining more deeply, and thus darken the lines. When applying the ground, it is customary to heat the plate so that the mixture will spread and adhere to the plate, but there are many risks, not least that of melting or otherwise damaging the original ground. Here, Cotman seems to say that the new ground failed and the areas intended to be masked were exposed to the acid to the same degree as the rest. We cannot tell what parts Cotman intended to be more delicately etched, but perhaps the background and the nave arches to the left, which would have given the main frontage greater presence.

Cotman continued his letter with an insight into what he was thinking: ‘This was etched decidedly for Piranesian effect, as coarseness does not proceed from thickness of line, but from want of variety of line, and etching may be coarse with every line as fine as a hair..’. The same letter says that he had been studying a group of Piranesi prints closely, ‘ This had been facilitated by Cotman’s early patron, Sir Henry Englefield, who was uncle to Francis Cholmeley; ‘when I was in London last.. he gave me six of Piranesi’s etchings as that master’s work was a mode I intended most religiously to bend my mind and judgement to. How far I and all modern etchers are behind him, both as to the execution.. with the needle and conception of effect, no-one can be a better judge than he who tries to copy him.. where the broad black line looks not coarse but full and mellow.’

Piranesi is best known for his Roman architectural subjects characterised by exuberant draftsmanship and tone. In Cotman’s time they were widely understood to set the highest standard in etched artistic handling. Cotman professed aspiration to similar calligraphic heights, but in truth copied very little from the Italian master. His handling has wonderful variety, but is by no means the same.

Piranesi demonstrates a sense of technical supremacy, with bold drawing over a rigorously ruled geometry. Cotman, on the other hand meanders in a sense of unstructured delight.

Cotman’s line wanders around the contour of every brick of the façade, hypnotises itself in every chevron of the portal, and finds sympathetic vibration with every constituent of the scene. Perhaps most characteristically he reserves his finest attention to the details of the hole in the thatched byre roof.

Piranesi plays the grand virtuoso whilst Cotman the plain workman, and, as we have previously discussed, the artist frequently aligned his aesthetic identity with his name.

The figure in the left foreground dressed in an apron, workingman’s jacket and country hat, personifies artisanal craft. Another essential difference between Piranesi and Cotman is that the former relies on ruled lines and measure, but in Cotman everything is hand-drawn and estimated. The attraction of the subject is its eye-measured irregularity, no two arches are identical, nor semicircle perfectly centred. Cotman celebrates the irregularity and idiosyncrasy with which the human spirit might express itself, as opposed to geometric regularity.

The majority of Cotman’s plates demonstrate some imperfection. Here, all the impressions have a flaw about one third of the way down the right edge, where a triangular area of keyline and sky has failed to bite, presumably having been somehow masked from the acid. Cotman’s early etchings frequently have such small foibles about them.

It might also be noted that whilst Cotman delineated his image space with a key-line, he was forced to break this to accommodate the uppermost part of his building. Such details signify a fallible hand. Cotman wanted his patrons to appreciate the honesty and effort of his labours and it was presumably strategic to inform Francis Cholmeley that St Botolph’s was the product of three weeks’ labour.

The subject retained its usefulness within his studio for decades to come . Miklos Rajnai (Norwich 1979 under no.36) cites a number of related works. One is at Norwich Castle Museum and is dated 1825 (NWHCM : 1951.235.186 : F).

This is a careful copy of the centre portion of the etching, and extremely carefully and competently done. In 1825 Cotman had just moved into a grand house in Norwich, and set up a new studio and a drawing school. It is possible that this is a drawing made for students to copy, but the quality of the drafsmanship, however fine, conveys a sense of diligence rather than artistry. The animals in particular, are very much less well comprehended than in the etching.

Another version is described by Rajnai as a crude copy in watercolour but inscribed ‘J S Cotman’. This was sold by Christie’s, London, 22 March 1966, lot 71, but I have not yet sourced a reproduction.

Rajnai also mentions a drawing in ‘bistre and indian ink’ that was sold in Cotman’s posthumous sale at Christie’s 17-18 May 1843, second day, lot. 177 (bought by Lee for three shillings). This is untraced, unless it might be identified with the Oscar and Peter Johnson drawing mentioned earlier.

Another, not known to Rajnai, is a pencil drawing offered at Cheffins auctioneers, Cambridge, 6-7 March 2019, lot 50. This appears to be a copy of the etching, and probably by a student.

Finally, I cannot quite shake off the peculiarity of the title inscription. The left part, ‘ST – BOTOLPHS – PRIO’, appears as if carved on a sequence of four large stone blocks. The remainder of the inscription ‘RY – ESSEX – ’ continues Escher-like across what is now a patch of bare earth. This would be strange enough even without an odd array of marks, possibly pebbles in the stone, beneath the beginning of the word ‘PRIORY’ continued on the bare earth with three star-like florets. These might just be space-fillers, but some grass would have done that job without drawing attention. Cotman went to the trouble of drawing these tiny florets: Presumably he intended them to be noticed, but what he meant by them we may only wonder. Perhaps they were meant to suggest, like mason’s marks, the individuality of the hand of the maker. He could be sure that no-one else was producing etchings so idiosyncratic as these. When he collated the completed set and totted up his list of supporters he found two hundred and fifty sets subscribed. He might well have felt confident that his efforts were being appreciated.

Summary of known states:

First published state

As editioned by Cotman for ‘Etchings by John Sell Cotman’, 1811, where plate 24.

Line etching, image within etched keyline, 246 x 359 mm on plate 258 x 368 mm. printed in black ink on soft, heavyweight, off white, hand-made rag wove paper, 474 x 340 mm

Inscribed in plate at lower centre of subject ‘ST-BOTOLPHS-PRIORY-ESSEX- / Drawn and Etched by J.S. Cotman’; and in plate lower left margin ‘Norwich Published Febry 20th by J.S. Cotman St Andrews Street. 1811′. Some copies of the 1811 edition inscribed in graphite by Cotman top right; ’24’.

Collection: Examples in various collections, e.g. Norwich Castle Museum NWHCM : 1956.254.26

Second published state

Line etching, image (max) 370 x 274 mm (14 1/2 x 10 3/4 ins) on plate 382 x 279 mm (15 1/8 x 11 ins) printed in black ink on heavyweight ?machine-made wove paper, 493 x 353 mm.

As editioned by H G Bohn in ‘Specimens of Architectural Remains in various Counties in England, but especially in Norfolk. Etched by John Sell Cotman’, 1838, Vol. 2, series 4, xvi.  Plate reworked from 1811 edition with the addition of shading to both main brick arcades, additional detailing across the tops of each arcade, and a dark [presumably accidental] scuff in the sky to the right.

As usual with the Bohn edition a numeral, here ‘XVI’ has been added. Unusually in this plate the numeral has been inscribed sideways in the right margin, presumably to make it less intrusive than it would have been if placed at the top.

Examples in numerous collections, e.g. Norwich Castle Museum, NWHCM : 1923.86.26

References:

A.E.Popham, ‘The Etchings of John Sell Cotman’ [an introduction and a list] in Antiques Quarterly, 1922, pp.236-273, no.26.

Adele M Holcomb, John Sell Cotman in the Cholmeley Archive, North Yorkshire County Record Office, 1980 [Transcribes references to Cotman in Letters and daybooks]