Cotmania. Vol. IV. 1929-30

Eastern Daily Press 3.5.30

JOHN SELL COTMAN
MR. SYDNEY KITSON'S PICTURE.

Eighty-eight years have passed since the death of John Sell Cotman, and the work of this distinguished Norwich Artist has been described by many writers in art subjects in books and publications. It has remained for Mr Sydney D. Kitson to make an attempt to understand the man himself, and in the current volume issued by "The Old Watercolour Society's Club," for members only, he has given the results of his study of this wonderful Norwich man, who, "had his mettle and his fortunes been other than they were, might have claimed the central place, with Turner on his right hand and Girtin on his left, in the pageant of water-colour art."
At intervals during his 60 years of life Cotman's work was prophetic of artistic expression which was in advance of his time. He was always reaching out after ideals which he could not grasp and to have half-discovered secrets which he never wholly unravelled. Picture him as Mr. Kitson has tried to do in the year 1803 when he came of age. In London studying art, the son of a well-to-do Norwich tradesman, the companion of Girtin and other kindred souls under the influence of Dr. Monro, Cotman feels that he must give expression to the art which is within him, and he develops a method which seems to be so mysterious an echo of the art of the East. He is invited to stay with the Cholmeleys, of Brandsby in York, and as Mr. Kitson has found numerous references to him on a book recording the movements of the members of this old Roman Catholic family we may assume that Cotman was on friendly terms with the son and daughters of his host. Pencil sketches of them by Cotman are in the possession of the present head of the family, Mr. Hugh Fairfax-Cholmeley. On a tree is still to be seen the name "Cottey," and the commonplace book at Brandsby records that on "September 25th, 1804, Mr. and Mrs. Cholmeley returned from Scarbro' to a late dinner." It must have been soon afterwards that he visited Rokeby Park and conceived the great series of drawings upon which his reputation may ultimately rest. Many of these drawings are amongst the most cherished possessions of Mr Russell J. Colman at Crown Point, Norwich, and are carefully preserves in a specially fitted cabinet in order that light may not fade or injure the colours which are practically in pristine condition.
Cotman at this time was buoyant and life loomed large before him. Temperamental by disposition he was easily swayed or discouraged by everyday episodes of life. This friendship with the Cholmeleys and their relatives is associated with Rokeby Park, a place he stayed at for two months and where it appears likely he was socially spoilt for the trials of his later life. In Yorkshire he had been walking among the heights, but on his return to London he wandered in the depths, a prey to indecision with regard to his future.
In 1806 he is buoyant again as the Marquis of Stafford, afterwards the first Duke of Sutherland, had invited to stay at Trentham. He wrote to Mr. Cholmeley in a state of elation at the prospect and received the friendly wisdom:-
"I think and hope you may find your very pleasing to Trentham not only agreeable but beneficial to you... Francis has not raised my spirits by telling me how unsuccessful a winter you have had...You will not, perhaps, dear Cotty, be angry with me when I tell you that I wish your last letter had been a little more quiet and sober. Your joy seems to me foolishly extravagant for a precarious advantage. We should always be armed against disappointment which your ardent, sanguine spirit, I fear, rarely is."
This criticism gives some insight into Cotman's character and explains his lack of worldly success and recognition. In the ducal surroundings of Trentham it is probable that he was treated as more as a drawing master than as a friend as had been the case with the Cholmeleys. Be this as it may, shortly afterwards he decided in a fit of depression to leave London and to settle at Norwich. It was unwise from every point of view as the woollen industry was leaving Norwich for the Midlands and Napoleon's blockade was interfering with the carrying trade of Norfolk. His work at this time is of a high order and probably Mr R. J. Colman's famous "Waterfall" dates from this time and is based on his memories of Rokeby. He produced a large number of drawing copies for his pupils that did not require a renewed reference to nature and this was bad for his general art. There was no market in Norwich for pastoral pictures owing to bad financial conditions, and yet we find Cotman a married man with a family to support and earning his living by teaching. One of these so-called drawing copies is a lovely composition called "Twickenham" in Mr R. J. Colman's collection at Crown Point.
In 1812 Cotman moved to Great Yarmouth in an even more unfortunate change than Norwich from London. However, he secured the patronage of Dawson Turner, a well-to-do banker, who was interested in architecture, and sent Cotman to Normandy. He revelled in the colour and bright sun, and longed to paint pictures in this new world which appeals so strongly in 1823 imagination. He came back to Norwich in 1823 and lived in a house in St Martin's-at-Palace, which he filled with armour, books and engravings. It was another mistake; no one wanted to become possessors of his work and he drifted about and tried all sorts of subjects and media. The last eight years of his life he spent as the drawing master at King's College London, and he appears to have been happier there than at Norwich. The last summer of his life was spent in Norfolk, and he made some rapid sketches for oil paintings which he hoped to carry out in London. He died in the summer of 1842 from a "decay of nature." After his death his pictures and drawings were sold at Christie's, but in spite of the auctioneer's assurance that they constituted "the remaining works of that distinguished and highly esteemed artist, John Sell Cotman, Esq., deceased," they fetched but a few shillings a piece, while often two or more lots had to be put together to secure a bid at all.
Mr. Kitson has given in his memoir a remarkable study of the life of John Sell Cotman, who was born in Norwich in 1782 and died in London in 1842. In less that one hundred years his work is appreciated, and drawings which sold for a few shillings at his death now readily sell for hundreds of pounds. The "Norwich School of Painters" is unique in the world of Art, and the names of Crome and Cotman shed a lustre on the name and fame of the city of their birth.