Cotmania. Vol. XI. 1935-6

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COTMAN’S GRAVE

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES
Sir,- Probably few people who pass the church in St. John’s Wood designed by Philip Hardwick, with its pillared front and picturesque cupola, are aware of its connexion with one of England’s greatest painters, for in the churchyard lie the remains of John Sell Cotman, beneath a broken and neglected gravestone.
Born in Norwich in 1782, after many vicissitudes he died and was buried here in 1842.
No artist can interpret the peculiar character and charm of English landscape in a more direct and yet subtle manner than Cotman, and is it not the irony of fate that while his pictures have been sought after and treasured in public and private galleries, yet his poor mortal remains have lain unhonoured and forgotten. Now, however, thanks to a well-known artist who, with others, has contributed to the cost, the grave is being put in decent order. The inscription, almost illegible, is being re-cut, the footstone and curbs renewed, and the whole cleared of weeds and rubbish and left as one hopes it will be for many years to come, and in this way some slight reparation made to Cotman’s memory.
Some few years ago the tomb of Sir John Soane in St. Pancras Churchyard, the architect of the Bank of England and other buildings in London, was rescued from decay, and that of Hogarth in Chiswick Churchyard was similarly repaired.
There must be many memorials in London of famous men notable in other walks of life whose work is valued and recognized to-day, and if only the sad condition of Cotman’s grave has drawn attention to this matter it will have served a good purpose.

I am, &c.,
E. GUY DAWBER.
18, Maddox Street, Hanover Square,
W.1, Feb. 20.

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‘The Times’ Feb: 22. 1936.

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A TABLET TO COTMAN

TO THE EDITOR OF THE TIMES

Sir,- With reference to the letter about Cotman’s grave written by Mr. Guy Dawber which appeared in The Times of February 22, it will be of interest to admirers of that artist’s work to know that only last year, on the initiative of Mr. Arthur Batchelor, of Norwich, a tablet was placed on the front of the little semi-detached house in Southtown, Yarmouth, where Cotman lived for 12 years while he was teaching drawing to the daughters of Dawson Turner, the banker and antiquary.
During these years, at his patron’s behest, Cotman paid three visits to Normandy, which visits resulted in the monumental volume, “The Architectural Antiquities of Normandy,” illustrated by a hundred of his etchings. The wording on the tablet runs as follows:-

In this house
John Sell Cotman,
Painter and Etcher,
lived from April, 1812,
until December, 1823.

I am, &c.,
SYDNEY D. KITSON
Thornbury House, Kidlington, Oxon. Feb. 22.

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‘The Times’
[[April] deleted] March 2 – 1936.