Archive: SDK Sydney Decimus Kitson Archive
Date: [1927]
Reference Number: SDK/1/3/3/2
Description
M.E. Cotman. Bulwer Collection by C.F. Bell. A catalogue of works by Miles Edmund Cotman (eldest son of John Sell Cotman) in the Bulwer Collection. Written by Charles Francis Bell (1871-1966), First Keeper of the Fine Art Department, Ashmolean Museum, 1909-1931. Walker's Galleries, with the help of Bell, mounted two exhibitions of works from the Bulwer collection in 1926 and 1927 and from these exhibitions many of the more important Norfolk Collection works were sold.
The volume contains some press cuttings.
The Reverend James Bulwer (1794-1879) as an amateur artist, art patron, collector, antiquarian, naturalist and friend of John Sell Cotman. He amassed a large collection of watercolours and drawings and commissioned many local artists, including Norwich School artists, to record the buildings of Norfolk, particularly the churches and their interiors, together with ecclesiastical art and archaeological items.
Much of the Bulwer collection remained in the hands of Bulwer's descendants until the 1950s. Works from the Bulwer collection can be found several UK collections including the Norwich Castle Museum and the British Museum.