Cotmania. Vol. IV. 1929-30

Dec: 11. 1929. Met Sir M.[Michael] Sadler on platform of Oxford station. He said that P. M. [Percy Moore] Turner had been looking thro' his Cotmans & had said that Sir M's 'Distant view of Mont St Michael & Avranches, etc', sepia, was a gap in R. J. Colman's collection. Would he sell? Sir M said no but he would exchange it for an oil painting by Signac which P. M. T. [Percy Moore Turner] had + valued at 250£. I understand that the change has been effected. I returned this night with my sepia 'Church in Normandy,' bought at Christie's on my behalf by D. G. Thomson.

Dec: 18. 1929. Went [[of]] to Ashmolean Museum with Talbot Griffith. Bell showed us two new Cotmans, recently bequeathed to the museum. (1) 'Ashstead Church Yard,' w.c. [water colour] same size as soft ground (in reverse) "540 Cotman" - c. 1808-9. Very good. (2) A sepia drawing of part of the Ambulatory at Norwich Cathedral. Showing the font (removed in 1812) quite early. (c. 1804-6) on white paper. Very charming & poetical, but the drawing a little uncertain - perhaps by Thirtle.

Dec: 28.1929. Leonard Duke writes on Christmas Day - "when prowling round yesterday I came on a frame maker's on a superb sepia Cotman, about 9" x 14" . It was not for sale. It belongs to a Lady (Douglas) Powell. It had on the back a label - "For the V & A Museum, Norwich (?)" - I feel sure it was not Norwich, but the bridge over the Ouse at York. It was signed and dated 1803. The finest sepia I have seen by J.S.C."