Here we have a rare piece of British art history. It's a museum level piece done by English art royalty, John Sell Cotman (1782 - 1842) and his son, Miles Edmund Cotman (1810 - 1858). The scenic artwork looks to be pencil, ink and wash on papers. The scene is of a boy/man fishing nearing the waterfalls of a river. The execution is as good as advertised given the artists involved. It's a stunner. The artwork is initialed "M.E." in the lower right corner, and the dated Dec. 10th, 18(__). I can't make out the year in the 1800s (see pic for yourself).
Here's an art piece by John and Miles with a similar theme and execution on paper:
The artwork on paper was found in a collection of 19th and 20th century British art containing paintings, drawings and etchings by Norwich artists John Sell Cotman, Miles Edmond Cotman, Catherine Maude Nichols, and many others. I have other pieces from this collection available in the store. There are a number of other (possible) John Sell Cotman pieces from this collection that I'm still researching (and not available in the shop). If you want to take a look, send me a message with your email and I'll give you access to the online photo gallery. Open to all opinions about the pieces.
Please see artist biographies below.
The woven paper measures just under 15" wide and 9 1/2" tall. The art piece has evidence of age. There are some discoloration spots (foxing?) along the upper mid and right sections. The corners are experiencing pinholes, creasing, tears and slight corner losses. There are 2 - 1 1/2" tears along the upper left margin. Even through all of this, you an amazing piece demonstrating the gift of true British masters.
Please see all pics as they are part of the description.
I ship to the continental USA only. Free shipping on this piece.
This rare artwork is a stunner. It's great to think about the artistic giants sat in front of it and worked on it. I'm honored to own it. Now it's your turn.
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Here's the biography for John Sell Cotman courtesy of Wikipedia:
Cotman was born in Norwich, England, on 16 May 1782, the eldest son of a prosperous silk merchant and lace dealer, and was educated at the Norwich School. He showed a talent for art from an early age and would often go out on frequent drawing trips into the surrounding countryside.
His father intended him to go into the family business but instead, intent on a career in art, he moved to London in 1798, initially making a living through commissions from print-sellers. He came under the patronage of Dr. Thomas Monro, physician to Bridewell and the Bethlehem Hospital, whose house in Adelphi Terrace was a studio and a meeting place for artists. There Cotman made the acquaintance of J. M. W. Turner, Peter de Wint and Thomas Girtin who became an influential figure in his artistic development. He joined a sketching club started by Girtin, and went on drawing expeditions to Wales and Surrey.
In 1800, aged 18, Cotman exhibited at the Royal Academy for the first time, showing five scenes of Surrey and one of Harlech Castle. He probably spent the summers of 1800 and 1801 touring Wales, as he showed Welsh scenes at the academy in 1801 and 1802. In 1800 he was awarded an honorary palette by the Society of Arts. He continued to exhibit at the academy until 1806, and went on several extended drawing trips through England and Wales. In the three summers of 1803–5 he stayed with the Cholmeley family at Brandsby Hall in Yorkshire. On the last of these three visits to Yorkshire, he made a series of watercolours of the River Greta.
While based in London, Cotman had spent some time in the city of his birth, and in September 1802 advertised his services as teacher of drawing in the Norwich Mercury. In 1806 he returned to live in Norwich and joined the "Norwich Society of Artists", exhibiting 20 works, including six portraits, at the society's exhibition in 1807, and 67 works, including some oils, in 1808. In 1811 he became president of the society.
In 1809, Cotman married Ann Mills, a farmer's daughter from Felbrigg. They were to have five children. 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.[citation needed] As part of his teaching Cotman operated a kind of subscription library of watercolours, which his pupils took home to copy. Many of his works bear numbers related to this scheme.
In 1811, his first set of etchings was published; all but one of the subjects were architectural, mostly buildings in Yorkshire. He followed this with a set of 60 etchings of ancient buildings in Norfolk, published in ten parts between 1812 and 1818. In 1817 he visited Normandy with Dawson Turner, making drawings of buildings, and went there again in 1818 and 1820. Two years later he published a set of 100 etchings based on sketches he made there.After these visits the character of his paintings changed, the later ones being brighter in colour.
From 1812 to 1823, Cotman lived on the coast at Great Yarmouth where he studied shipping and mastered the form of waves. Some of his finest marine pieces date from this time. He returned to Norwich in 1824, hoping to improve his financial position, and moved into a large house in St Martin's Plain, opposite the Bishop's Palace, where he built up a collection of prints, books, armour and many models of ships to aid his compositions. He showed work from 1823 to 1825 at the Norwich Society of Artists' annual exhibitions.
In 1825, Cotman became an Associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours and was a frequent exhibitor 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 was appointed to assist him. Dante Gabriel Rossetti was one of his pupils. In London, Cotman was friends with a number of artists including 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".
Cotman died in July 1842, and was buried in the cemetery at St. John's Wood Chapel. All his works and collection of prints and books were sold by auction at Christie's, realising just over £525 – a relatively paltry sum.
His sons, Miles Edmund Cotman and John Joseph Cotman, became painters of note. Cotman's name is used as a trademark by Winsor & Newton for a range of artist's watercolour materials.
Cotman worked in oils, watercolour, pencil and chalk, and produced many hundreds of etchings. His work can be found in the United Kingdom at the Castle Museum and Art Gallery in Norwich (well over 2000 pieces), Leeds Art Gallery, the Tate Gallery, the British Museum and the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, the Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge and other regional centres. In the United States, Cotman is represented at the Yale Center for British Art in New Haven, Connecticut and other galleries around the country.
Here's the biography for Miles Edmund Cotman courtesy of Wikipedia:
Cotman was born on 5 February 1810, the son of the artist John Sell Cotman. Taught to paint by his father, he first exhibited with the Norwich Society at the age of thirteen, and by the time of the society's closure in 1833 had shown 60 works. Some of his early watercolours were continental scenes, probably based on prints, or on sketches by his father's friend, W.H. Herriott.
When his father left to take up a post teaching at King's College School in London, Cotman took over his practice as a drawing-master in Norwich. Once the family home in St Martin's Plain in Norwich had been sold, however, he moved to London to assist his father, while his younger brother, John Joseph, who had accompanied his father to the capital returned to take over the family's teaching practice. At first Cotman had no official post at the school, but in December 1836, he was appointed Assistant Drawing Master. Sometimes father and son collaborated on paintings. One joint work depicts the wreck of the ship carrying the works of art sold by Robert Walpole to Catherine the Great – a completely imaginary incident. He stood in for his father during illnesses and absences, and succeeded to his post following his death in 1842.
His watercolours followed the style of his father's more brightly coloured works of the late 1820s and early 1830s.[4] John Sell Cotman thought his son had a "hard dry manner", although his style gradually loosened, He was especially fond of shipping scenes, sometimes based on sketches made aboard a small boat owned by the Cotman family on trips along the coast to the Thames estuary and the River Medway.
Two sets of etchings by Cotman were published by Charles Muskett.
From the mid-1830s he exhibited frequently in both London and Norwich, many of the works being in oil.[2] For most of his time in London he lived at 42 Hunter Street, near Brunswick Square. In 1851, however, he was living in Haverstock Hill, and soon afterwards left London due to poor health. He moved in with his brother John Joseph at Thorpe, near Norwich. They later moved to Great Plumstead. He died in the Norfolk and Norwich Hospital on 23 January 1858.
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