Cotmania. Vol. I. 1926-7

{catalogue extract} THE COTMAN GALLERY ARTHUR E. KEELEY G. DOUGLAS THOMSON
19 Steelhouse BIRMINGHAM
7 Classical Landscape ... J. S. Cotman
63 Gunton Park ... J. S. Cotman
{Kitson's note to right} Spring Exhibition 1927. see page 8.

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{catalogue extract} WALKER'S GALLERIES. JUNE 20TH UNTIL THE AUTUMN, 1927.
J.S.COTMAN, 1782 -1842
{Kitson's notes on catalogue shown in italics}
40 Old Crypt in Normandy wih Cattle 150?
41 Landscape c. 6 x 9. 50.
42 Conway Castle (pencil) c. 8 x 12 12.
UNATTRIBUTED.

1. Landscape in Red Chalk
   130 Si puo incidere li, 28th Feb. 1800
   131 Mill near Dinasmowddu, Merionethshire, 1800
   132 View of the Town of Rotterdam
   133 Scene in Normandy - 75 - bought by R.H.K. 20.6.27 (J. S. Cotman)

{Further Kitson notes to left of no.40} bought by A. E. Anderson & given to Ashmolean Mus: July '27
{Further Kitson notes to right}From Bulwer - Canada. Derwent Wood period. very pleasant. Sir. M. Sadler.
on brown paper. in white chalk. Sir M. Sadler.
on 23.6.27. was shown at Walker's a (1 word) drawing 10½ x 7½ of Ranza Castle.
Isle of Arran signed J. S. Cotman rather like the (Swale) Castle in the Ashmolean.

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At Walker's Galleries the emphasis is upon minor masters, not all of them identified, and so the opportunity is one for the extension of knowledge and for pleasing speculation. "Scene in Normandy" (133), a fine decorative landscape, is certainly out of the Cotman studio, and `possibly in part by John Sell - who is represented most effectively by a large sepia drawing of "Old Crypt in Normandy with Cattle." The employment of Turner and Girtin by Dr Monro is recalled by two beautiful drawings in blue-grey wash by Turner after J. R. Cozens, possibly outlined by Girtin. A curious unattributed work, representing a scene of rioting, with burning, in the Piazza della Signoria at Florence, bears the inscription "Si puo incidere li (One may cut there). 28th Feb., 1800." which is clearly only a direction either to an engraver or else to the person mounting the drawing. It is a striking composition in sepia - or bistre- of many figures in energetic action contrasted with the stillness of architecture, and evidently the works of an adnirable draghtsman. The scenic art of W.R. Beverley is well represented by a large drawing of "Fresh Breeze - Fishing yawl making for Port" and other works, and William Callow is to be seen at his best in "Goodrich Castle" and "Goodrich Court," made on the same day in 1848. There are seven Rowlandsons, including a very pretty domestic scene, "The Bachelor," and, altogether, the exhibition lends itself very well to active browsing.{Kitson notes:} Times - 25.6.27

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THE WALPOLE SOCIETY
The annual report of the Walpole Society, which was presented yesterday at the annual meeting, in the meeting room of the Linnæan Society, Burlington House, W., showed that the membership numbered 402, having remained steadily at about this figure for the past four years. Volume XV., the volume for 1927, was now in the press and will be available almost immediately, its contents would include a study of the painted glass in the Chapel of the Vyne, in Hampshire, by G.McNeil Rushforth. Mr. Rushforth had established that these windows were erected between 1518 and 1528 by William Lord Sandys, the favourite of Henry VIII., and that the glass was the work of Flemish craftsmen, probably from the neighbourhood of Liége. Other items in the volume included what was claimed to be the first connected account of the life and works of John Bushnall, the sculptor (1630-1701) by Mrs. Arundell Esdaile; the life of Tilly Kettle, the portrait painter (1735 - 1786), by Mr. J. D. Milner; and the letters written by John Sell Cotman during his sketching tours in Normandy in 1817, 1818 and 1820, edited by Mr. H. Isherwood Kay.{Kitson notes:} Times - 25.6.27