John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) - 1831 Graphite Drawing Mountain Summit

Description

A graphite sketch of a mountain summit by John Sell Cotman (1782-1842), a friend of J.M.W. Turner and tutor of Dante Gabriel Rossetti. Presented glazed in a cream washline mount and a black wooden frame. Signed on the verso of the painting. Dated to the lower-right edge, partially obscured by the mount. The attribution has also been inscribed on the verso of the frame. On wove.

Condition

There are some marks to the surface. There is some slight debris trapped beneath the glazing and scuffs to the frame.

Size

26.2 x 33.5cm (10.3" x 13.2")
Framed Size: 26 x 33.4cm (10.2" x 13.1")

Artist Biography

John Sell Cotman (1782-1842) was an English marine and landscape painter, etcher, illustrator, author, and a leading member of the Norwich School of painters. Born in Norwich, the son of a silk merchant and lace dealer, Cotman was educated at the Norwich Grammar School. He showed an early talent for art. It was intended that he followed his father into the family business but, intent on a career in art, he moved to London in 1798, where he met artists such as J.M.W. Turner, Peter de Wint, and Thomas Girtin, whose sketching club he joined, and whom he travelled with to Wales and Surrey. By 1800 he was exhibiting at the Royal Academy, showing scenes of the Welsh countryside there in 1801 and 1802. His drawing expeditions took him throughout southern Britain, and to Yorkshire, where he stayed with the Cholmeley family during the three summers of 1803-5.

His main living came from teaching art and one of his students, the local antiquary Dawson Turner, became a good friend, introducing him to many pupils and collaborating on one of his books. As part of his teaching Cotman operated his own version of a watercolour subscription library, so that his pupils could take home his drawings to copy. Many of his works bear numbers related to this scheme. In 1825, Cotman became an Associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours and was a frequent exhibitor there until 1839. However he was driven to despair by his constant financial struggles. In January 1834, Cotman was appointed Master of Landscape Drawing at King's College School in London, partly on the recommendation of J.M.W. Turner. In 1836, his son Miles Edmund Cotman was appointed to assist him. The poet and artist Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of his pupils. In London, Cotman was friends with the artists James Stark, George Cattermole, Samuel Prout and Cornelius Varley. In 1836, he became an honorary member of the Institute of British Architects. In 1838, all of his etchings were published by Henry George Bohn, including 'Liber Studiorum'.