John Sell Cotman: A Harbour for the Soul #7 More Musketeers

This is the seventh in a series of articles that explores a group of works that reflect John Sell Cotman’s ambitions for his artistic life in Norwich. In part 6 we considered a drawing that appeared on the market in March 2021.  He we continue that theme by examining the full troop of musketeers, arquebusiers … Continue reading John Sell Cotman: A Harbour for the Soul #7 More Musketeers

John Sell Cotman: A Harbour for the Soul #6 Musketeer after Jacob De Gheyn

This is the sixth in a series of articles that explores a group of works that reflect John Sell Cotman’s ambitions for his artistic life in Norwich. Here we consider a drawing that appeared on the market in March 2021. It dates from the early days of Cotman's second attempt to establish a successful studio … Continue reading John Sell Cotman: A Harbour for the Soul #6 Musketeer after Jacob De Gheyn

John Sell Cotman: A Harbour for the Soul #5 Van Dyck Study

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

A Twopeny Portfolio: #1 Cotman, King’s Lynn

This article describes the first work of twenty-five bought in a lot of Sundry Drawings and Watercolours, offered 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 … Continue reading A Twopeny Portfolio: #1 Cotman, King’s Lynn

A Twopeny Portfolio: #2 after Cotman, Walsoken Chancel

This is the second work of twenty-five bought in a lot of Sundry Drawings and Watercolours, offered 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 … Continue reading A Twopeny Portfolio: #2 after Cotman, Walsoken Chancel

A Twopeny Portfolio: #3 David Twopeny and Northborough Manor

This is the third work of twenty-five bought in a lot of Sundry Drawings and Watercolours, offered 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 … Continue reading A Twopeny Portfolio: #3 David Twopeny and Northborough Manor

A Twopeny Portfolio: #11 In Woodstock Park, Kent

This is the eleventh work of twenty-five bought in a lot of Sundry Drawings and Watercolours, offered 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 … Continue reading A Twopeny Portfolio: #11 In Woodstock Park, Kent

A Twopeny Portfolio: #14 Tolethorpe Mill, near Little Casterton, 1828

This article considers the fourteenth work of twenty-five bought at Anderson & Garland Ltd, Newcastle upon Tyne, 21 March 2017, 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 … Continue reading A Twopeny Portfolio: #14 Tolethorpe Mill, near Little Casterton, 1828

A Twopeny Portfolio: #20 Founder’s Tomb, Navenby Church, Lincolnshire, 1823.

This article considers the twentieth work of twenty-five bought at Anderson & Garland, Newcastle upon Tyne, 21 March 2017, 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 of J.S.Cotman, various sizes, all unframed in a folio.’ … Continue reading A Twopeny Portfolio: #20 Founder’s Tomb, Navenby Church, Lincolnshire, 1823.

Cotman, Bloomfield and The Ploughed Field

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