Update: Cotman and Point Lorenzo, Madeira

On 22 February 2015 I posted a SublimeSites.co article on ‘John Sell Cotman: Point Lorenzo, Madeira, 1828’. This followed a trip, earlier that month to see the site of a Cotman watercolour at the Victoria and Albert Museum. Cotman never went to Madeira, but based his composition on a drawing by a friend and Patron, the Revd James Bulwer, who spent quite some time there, and published a celebrated set of ‘Views in the Madeiras’ in 1827.

CLICK ON ANY IMAGE BELOW TO OPEN IN SLIDESHOW WITH CAPTIONS:

Rev J Bulwer (after) Point Lorenzo, Madeira, 1827 The engraving published in Bulwer’s ‘Views in the Madeiras’, London 1827.

Point Lorenzo, Madeira Photograph by Professor David Hill, taken 18 February 2015, at 12.32 pm. From the Miradouro da Pedra Furada on the Ponta da Rosta, looking east over the north-facing cliffs of the Ponta de Sao Lourenco

John Sell Cotman Cliffs on the North-East side of Point Lorenzo, Madeira, 1828 Watercolour, 10 1/4 x 15 3/4 in, 260 x 398 mm London, Victoria and Albert Museum (P31-1949) Photo courtesy of the Victoria and Albert Museum To view this watercolour in the V&A’s own website click on the following link, then use your browser’s ‘back’ button to return to this page: http://collections.vam.ac.uk/item/O1070708/cliffs-on-the-north-east-watercolour-john-sell-cotman/

?John Sell Cotman Point Lorenzo, Madeira, 1828c Watercolour, 267 x 405 mm (10 1/2 x 16 ins), on sheet 339 x 479 mm (13 1/4 x 18 7/8 ins). Vancouver Art Gallery, Canada (VAG 61.4) Photograph courtesy of Vancouver Art Gallery.

At the time I had not managed to track down a copy of Bulwer’s own view of Point Lorenzo but since that time my good friend and sometime resident of Madeira, Philip Morris, has sent me an image of the engraving published in ‘Views in the Madeiras’. This has forced a reconsideration of a watercolour version of the composition at Vancouver Art Gallery, which I initially took to be by Bulwer, but which I now think must be by Cotman.

I have today revised the article to reflect my new conclusions.