JOHN SELL COTMAN
(1782-1842)
 

In the Jesus Chapel, Norwich Cathedral

c.1807

watercolour and black lead on paper

38.5 x 26.9 cm

inscribed: J.S. Cotman

P.698

One of ten drawings by Cotman of Norwich Cathedral. Dated c.1807-8 in the 1982-2 exhibition catalogue, the view is taken looking east, whereas a watercolour now in Sydney (probably D.Y. Cameron Collection in 1937) shows the Chapel looking west. The tomb in the centre is a monument to the Windham family – since removed to the nave (see P.695). Kitson notes that the Cathedral’s medieval pelican lantern, visible next to a ladder, may mean that the Chapel was at that time used as a sort of lumber room.  

EJ   

PROVENANCE: Rev. James Bulwer, acquired from the artist;  Walker’s Galleries Ltd ; Sydney Kitson; Elisabeth and Alice Barbara Kitson, given to Gallery, May 1973.

EXHIBITIONS: Norwich Art Circle’s 9^th Exhibition. Drawings by the late John Sell Cotman, Norwich, Arts Circle, 1888, no.58; Exhibition of Drawings in Water Colour and in Black and White by John Sell Cotman, London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, 1888, no.28; John Sell Cotman (The Bulwer Collection), London, Walker’s Galleries Ltd, 1926 no.6; Exposition Retrospective de Peinture Anglaise, Brussels, Musée Moderne, 1929, no.148; The English Tradition: an exhibition of watercolours from two private collections, Bedford, Cecil Higgins Art Gallery, 1972, no.16; John Sell Cotman, London, V&A, Manchester, Whitworth Art Gallery & Bristol, Bristol City Art Gallery, 1982-3, no.65; Cotmania and Mr. Kitson, Leeds, Leeds City Art Gallery, 1993, no.22.

REFERENCES: S. Kitson, The Life of John Sell Cotman, 1937, p.107.