Cotmania. Vol. II. 1927-8

{diary entries}
Monday, May 14, 1928. had tea with Lady Balfour at 4 Blackhall Rd, Oxford, to meet her brother, Leslie Brooke, artist, Cumnor Oxon. He owns & brought a very excellent pencil drawing 8" x 11" same size as etching inscribed left bottom border 'West View of the Gate of Cambridge Castle' - 'J. S. Cotman 1818.' He inherited from his father-in-law, Stopford Brooke. The drawing has been washed over with an alum + [neutral] wash to set it - c.f. R.H.K's 'Croyland'.
Mr Brooke has also in a brown paper wrapper the 8 etchings published in 1846 - (1) The Draw-Well (2) The Philosopher (3) The Wolf-hunter (4) Study in the manner of Tenniers (5) Spanish Student (6) Fécamp, Normandy (7) Yarmouth beach (8) Mills at Yarmouth - this latter has written on margin, with a line pointing to the 'T.B' on the basket of the figure on right 'T.B - Thomas Brightwell' The titles are all written in a round hand (?M.E.C's)
Mr Brooke has also the printed prospectus of '12 drawings on [stone?] done from drawings by the late J.S. Cotman made in 1842 (sic) by M.E. Cotman. 3.3.0 to subscribers. On the top is written in ink 8 Henrietta St. Brunswick Square, London. There are 38 subscribers, among them Bulwer & Geldart.
Friday May 19. 1928. Went into the Leeds Art Gallery, met Lambert & H.M.Hepworth with a watercolour drawing by J.S.C, which Hepworth had seen at Palser's & asked him to send it up on approval. It was a boat on shore, foreshortened, a man in it, the smoke of a bonfire behind (10" x 14½ ") rather rubbed, a little faded & some fox spots (which had been treated) but a very pleasant thing of 1822-1824 (35£) Hepworth is presenting it to the Gallery.

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{catalogue cutting}
Leeds City Art Gallery : Catalogue of the Permanent Collection of Paintings and Drawings. (From the Gallery. 1s. net)
UNDER the auspices of its director, Mr. Frank Lambert, F.S.A., the Leeds City Art Gallery has been furnished with a well-illustrated catalogue which provides a useful vade-mecum to that interesting collection. Chief among its treasures is, perhaps, that noble drawing, A Ploughed Field, one of the finest Cotmans in existence ; while Richard Wilson, Turner, Girtin, Varley, and Peter de Wint are also well represented.
<Connoisseur - June '28>