John Joseph Cotman (1814-1878)
River landscape with autumn colours
Watercolour
3½ x 4¾ inches

£650 (including UK delivery)

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A beautiful little gem of a watercolour with bold palette and most attractive composition. A rare and fabulous work by the talented son of John Sell Cotman.

The second son of John Sell Cotman (and the most original of his children). In 1824 the family moved to Norwich, and he was apprenticed to his uncle, a haberdasher. His first sketches were made with his friends J. Geldart and Arthur Dixon. In 1834 he went to London with his father, where he helped to teach at King's College and studied at the British Museum and National Gallery. In the summer he had a holiday at Cromer, and in 1835 he returned to Norwich, his more practical brother Miles Edmund taking his place with his father. From 1849 to 1851 he lectured at the Thorpe Institute and in the latter year also at Yarmouth. In about 1852 Miles Edmund came to live with him at Thorpe-by-Norwich. In 1858 he moved back to the centre of Norwich. He was always mentally unstable, alternating periods of depression and lassitude with bursts of work. His personal life was also erratic.

His work is hot and bright, in some ways a cross between the styles of his father and Samuel Palmer.

Source: Huon Mallalieu, The Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists upto 1920