We can now resume consideration of the twenty-five drawings bought at Anderson & Garland Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne, 21 March 2-17, lot 46 as Various Artists (British 19th Century) Sundry drawings and watercolours, mainly topographical and floral studies, including a grisaille “South Gate Lynn, Norfolk”, bearing the signature J.S. Cotman, various sizes, all unframed in a folio.
In my last I promised to turn next to a group of drawings of subjects in and around the small Rutlandshire village of Little Casterton, just north of Stamford. But before doing so, I have revised an earlier article, ‘A Twopeny Portfolio: #7 Forestead and Island, Little Casterton’, having been able to pinpoint the actual subject from old Ordnance survey maps.
Since my previous article, I spent a beautiful spring day on 6 February 2020 visiting Little Casterton. I was helped in this by Tony Dolby of Little Casterton Parish Council, and guided around the church by lifelong resident of the village Arthur Hinch.
The site of the Forestead drawing is so much changed as to be unrecognisable today, but the identification of the subject was corroborated by Mr Hinch, who remembers the site surviving in part until the later 1960s or early 1970s.
Photograph by David Hill, 6 February 2020
Snowdrops were out in the churchyard and rectory garden in the lull before the arrival of Storms Ciara and Dennis. I hope to be able to illustrate each of the Little Casterton subjects in the articles that will follow.
Sublime Sites 