Explorations in the footsteps of Turner, Cotman, Ruskin and others with Professor David Hill
This is the fourth in a series of articles that began with a rediscovered watercolour of ‘The Student’ by John Sell Cotman. That led to an exploration of the ways in which that composition and various re-iterations reflected the ambitions of Cotman’s artistic life in Norwich, and its Rembrandtian collapse. Here we consider a related … Continue reading John Sell Cotman: A Harbour for the Soul #4
This is the third instalment of an article presenting a recently rediscovered watercolour of ‘The Student’ by John Sell Cotman. Part 1 described the discovery and identification of the subject. Part 2 explored some of the related works discovered during my research into the Leeds Art Gallery collection of Cotman drawings. Here I examine some … Continue reading John Sell Cotman: A Harbour for the Soul #3
This is the second instalment of an article presenting a recently rediscovered watercolour of ‘The Student’ by John Sell Cotman. Part 1 described the discovery and identification of the subject, and here I explore some of the related works identified during my research into the Leeds Art Gallery collection of Cotman drawings. The watercolour is related … Continue reading John Sell Cotman: A Harbour for the Soul #2
This is the first instalment of an article presenting a recently rediscovered watercolour by John Sell Cotman. This appeared at auction on 9 December 2014 where it was catalogued as ‘Circle of John Sell Cotman’ and sold under the title of ‘The Student’. At the time of the sale I was just beginning work on … Continue reading John Sell Cotman: A Harbour for the Soul #1
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
This is the third article in an occasional series exploring Normandy subjects in the Cotman collection at Leeds Art Gallery. In September 2016 I spent the month travelling through Normandy and visited all the sites represented at Leeds. Cotman’s port of landing on his first visit to Normandy in 1817 was Dieppe. In the first … Continue reading In Cotman’s Footsteps through Normandy: #3 Arques la Bataille, near Dieppe
This is the second of an occasional series of articles that I will post as I work through Cotman’s Normandy subjects at Leeds Art Gallery. In September 2016 I had the opportunity to spend the month travelling through Normandy and visited the sites of all of the subjects represented at Leeds. Dieppe was his port … Continue reading In Cotman’s Footsteps through Normandy: #2 Dieppe Castle and Harbour
This is the first of an occasional series of articles that I will post as I work through Cotman’s Normandy subjects at Leeds Art Gallery. I am now in the latter stages of cataloguing all of the eight hundred (or more) works in the collection. In September 2016 I had the opportunity to spend the … Continue reading In Cotman’s Footsteps through Normandy: #1 Dieppe, East End of the Church of St Jacques
SublimeSites.co has been silent for the past few months, but I have not been idle, nor laid low. Some readers even emailed to enquire after my possible demise. I cannot overstate how grateful I am for your concern. The less dramatic truth is that SublimeSites activities have been pushed to one side by my ongoing … Continue reading Sublime slumbers
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