Cotmania. Vol. XI. 1935-6

The lady (the unsigned one) is only tinted in respect of a light brown jacket. This portrait is smaller and not nearly so strong as the other. It is, too, more faded.
My Father's Mother was a Miss Anne Walne Cotman, daughter of Thos Cotman. "M[arried] at Bamford Church, Suffolk".
The subject of the portraits are this Tho[ma]s Cotman and his wife. Thomas was a cousin, I believe, of John Sell.
The sizes of the portrait surfaces are:
Mr Cotman 13" x 9" , Mrs Cotman 12" x 8 1/2".
Both these pictures were exhibited at the Loan Exhibition at the Tate Gallery some years ago.
To my great regret, these are the only two J.S.C works which have come down my branch of the family. Whether or not Anne Walne possessed any others and sold them (she fell on very hard times) I do not know. Her husband, my Grandfather, died young. He, by the way, coxed the Cambridge boat in the first [race] in 1829.
yours sincerely
C. Noel Heath.