Explorations in the footsteps of Turner, Cotman, Ruskin and others with Professor David Hill
This is the twenty-first article in a series cataloguing John Sell Cotman’s first series of etchings published in 1811. Here in plate 18 Cotman continues with his Yorkshire material, and selects a second subject at Kirkham Priory, and finds himself confronting some demons. John Sell CotmanKirkham Priory, Yorkshire, 1811Private CollectionPhotograph by Professor David Hill This … Continue reading Plate 18: Kirkham Priory, Yorkshire (2)
This is the thirteenth article in a series cataloguing John Sell Cotman’s first series of etchings published in 1811. Here in plate 10 Cotman offers us a second subject at Rievaulx Abbey, though no less retiring than the first. John Sell CotmanRievaulx Abbey, the Refectory Doorway, Yorkshire 1810Private collectionPhotograph: Professor David Hill This is an … Continue reading Plate 10: Rievaulx Abbey, the Refectory Doorway, Yorkshire
This is the twelfth article in a series cataloguing John Sell Cotman’s first series of etchings published in 1811. Here, plate 9 takes in another Yorkshire abbey, and Cotman continues his quest to find a quiet corner in which to immure himself. John Sell CotmanKirkham Priory, Yorkshire 1811Private collectionPhotograph: Professor David Hill This is an … Continue reading Plate 9: Kirkham Priory, Yorkshire (1)
This is the eleventh article in a series cataloguing John Sell Cotman’s first series of etchings, published in 1811. Here, plate 8 offers another Yorkshire subject, and the first location of genuine renown. Typically, however, Cotman finds an obscure corner to depict, so much so that it has resisted proper identification until now. John Sell … Continue reading Plate 8: Rievaulx Abbey, Yorkshire
This is the fifth article in a series that began three years ago with a rediscovered watercolour of ‘The Student’ by John Sell Cotman. That led to the consideration of several works that embodied ambitions that Cotman had for his artistic life in Norwich, and his eventual disappointment. Here we consider a drawing that appeared … Continue reading John Sell Cotman: A Harbour for the Soul #5 Van Dyck Study
This is the fifth of a series of articles exploring Cotman's association with St Benet's Abbey, Norfolk. In Part 1 and Part 2 we considered Cotman’s early treatments of the subject, in part 3 an etching published in 1813 and in part 4 works closely related to the etching. Here we turn our attention to … Continue reading Cotman and St Benet’s: Part 5; Later Works
This article proposes a source for John Sell Cotman’s famous watercolour of ‘The Ploughed Field’ at Leeds Art Gallery. In the online catalogue of the Cotman collection at Leeds http://www.cotmania.org, I describe the watercolour as ‘the exemplar of his turn towards reticence and understatement… the supreme exercise in undemonstrative refinement and subtlety of its time’. … Continue reading Cotman, Bloomfield and The Ploughed Field
This is the second part of an article exploring Cotman's association with St Benet's Abbey, Norfolk. In 1811 Cotman committed himself to a major series of etchings of Norfolk antiquarian subjects. The work was to become his primary preoccupation for the next five or six years, and he threw himself into it with several excursions … Continue reading Cotman’ and St Benet’s Abbey: Part 2
This is a further instalment in a series that retraces Cotman’s footsteps through his native county of Norfolk. Here we visit the isolated site of St Benet’s Abbey. This stands in a marshy plain near the junction of the rivers Ant and Bure about ten miles directly ENE of Norwich, but much further by road, … Continue reading Cotman and St Benet’s Abbey, Norfolk: Part 1
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