The Cotman Collection | 24

Arthur Dixon letters

Archive: SDK Sydney Decimus Kitson Archive
Reference Number: SDK/1/3/1/1
Page: 13 recto


  • Description

    Letter of Arthur Dixon to John Joseph Cotman, 13 April 1834

    Dixon is glad to have received a letter from JJC. He urges him to take advantage of being with his father. He is pleased that JJC admires the works of the old masters and quotes Reynolds on our ability to absorb their way of thinking [see 'Discourse VI', in The Works of Sir Joshua Reynolds, Knight, 2 vols (London, 1797), vol. I, p. 104]. He urges JJC to write more often.

    Date: 1834

  • Transcription

    [Note added in pencil by Kitson:
    50
    Suggestion of John’s [?] walking to Norwich[.] Old Masters –]

    Thorpe Sunday Eve[ning] 13. April ’34
    My dear John
    To pleasure us by giving us all the converse you can on this day, for so long a time dedicated to the interchanges of such, has been one of your good offices so repeatedly since you left us, that when a whole week passes without a letter from you we feel sure on the Sunday of seeing something of you, and if the contemplation of the happiness you confer has so often incited you to such deeds of Charity I do hope that your imagination may be able to conceive the disappointment which finishes the walking to Norwich for a letter & going back without one, that besides the pleasure of making happy you may have the additional excitement of preventing disappointment. All this comes out, because, I am writing, and, Edmund is sending, which by the bye being the cause should have been put before the effect, but thats [that? – crossed out] a very common mistake. You must make full use of your present advantages, & turn them to rich account. For they are purchased at the expense of a sacrifice of a most rare & high value. I allude to his society with whom I now share those pleasures of recollection & those regrets of absence so dearly connected with yourself. The example of his labour in the art, his industry, his advice relative to study & conduct, his clear & final views with regard to the end of study, the extraordinary elegance & strength of his taste & judgment, with a clearness of expression & facility of communication

Letter of Arthur Dixon to John Joseph Cotman, 13 April 1834