Cotmania. Vol. VI. 1930-31

(4) A Dutch Boat. pencil. 6 1/4 x 9 3/8 on Whatman paper.
"Cotman"
probably M.E.C
*Bought by S.D.K.
*(5) "Caister Castle. J. Cotman 35." Pencil
on buff paper. Sketch on spot, probably
c 1811. very 'mappy' & slight. 10 1/2 x 11 3/8.
(6) "Boats on the Sartre, near Alençon. J.S. Cotman." 9 x 12 1/4
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March 27, 1931. Cotman's fine drawing of
Norwich Market Place, 1807, was sold at
Christie's for 360 guineas to Alec Martin,
acting for a private collector.
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work, and [..] everybody [..]
[in]fluence of his exuberant genius - people from
Rossetti down to the humblest puddler in the pottery at
Merton Abbey - points to his greatness. Everything he
did he did well and beautifully. He gave it the quality of
his sun-like personality, the quality of golden light and joy.
Here is an example of that quality, shining through his prose
style. Notice the monosyllabic construction that makes it
transparent in spite of all its richness. It is like the water
colour painting of the finest masters in that subtle art, men
such as Cotman and Peter de Wint:

"The Abbey where we built the Church was not girt by stone
walls, but by a circle of poplar trees, and whenever a wind passed
over them, were it ever so little a breath, it set them all a-ripple;
and when the wind was high, they bowed and swayed very low,
and the wind, as it lifted the leaves, and showed their silvery white
sides, or as again in the lulls of it, it let them drop, kept on changing
the trees from green to white, and white to green; moreover,
through the boughs and trunks of the poplars we caught glimpses
of the great golden corn sea, waving, waving, waving for leagues
and leagues; and among the corn grew burning scarlet poppies,
and blue corn-flowers; and the corn-flowers were so blue, that
they gleamed, and seemed to burn with a steady light, as they
grew beside the poppies among the gold of the wheat. Through
the corn sea ran a blue river, and always green meadows and lines
of tall poplars followed its windings."
Richard Church

The Spectator - 14.3.31. Review of "Wm Morris - Prose Selections"