FDA-D.143-2010

FDA-D.143-2010

drawing

Cader Idris from Barmouth Sands
Pilkington

assigned by cataloguer
collection

Born in Norwich, Cotman moved to London in 1798 and worked first for Ackermann, the print publisher. He was invited to join the informal evening 'Academy' of artists who studied and copied prints and drawings at the home of Dr Thomas Monro, which brought him into contact with a group of committed watercolourists. After the death of Girtin, their leading light, in 1802, Cotman appeared the most promising talent among the rising generation. Cotman made a tour of Wales in 1800 and passed through Barmouth some time in the second half of July on his way north towards Snowdonia. A smaller version of the Eton watercolour, dated 1801, is in Norwich Castle Museum. For the later reworking, most probably made for exhibition at the Royal Academy in 1804, Cotman added the foreground figures, made the distant mountains more angular and gave much more definition to the cloud formation in the sky, all features calculated to make the work more imposing and eye-catching. Barmouth Sands represents the climax of the first phase of Cotman's career, and shows him aspiring to unite the breadth and sombre tonality of Girtin with something of the surface variety and compositional complexity of Turner. In this, he appears to far outstrip his more established rivals such as John Varley, Joshua Cristall or Francis Nicholson. Only a year later, on the banks of the Greta in 1805, Cotman was to forge a radically simplified style of painting which set him permanently apart from his contemporaries, not only in his own day, but in the judgement of posterity.

A smaller version of the this work, dated 1801, is in the collection at Norwich Castle Museum.

Pi 239

height (actual size): 362mm
width (actual size): 536mm

Cotman, John Sell, 1782 - 1842 (Artist)

c.1804

Provenance: Collection of Alan Pilkington (1879-1973); by whom bequeathed to Eton College

Exhibited: Royal Academy, London, 1804, catalogue nunmber 375; Tate, London, 1922, catalogue number 140; 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie’s, London, 6 to 24 January 2003, catalogue number 39; 'Watercolours from the Eton College Collections', Verey Gallery, Eton College, 24 November 2018 to 24 February 2019

Pilkington, Alan, 1879 - 1973: Bequeathed to Eton by Alan Pilkington, 1973
Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours, London: Donated to the Royal Society of Painters in Watercolours, 1947 and with Thomas Agnew's Ltd, London 1952
Nettlefold, Frederick John, 1833 - 1913
Gill, Francis
Brocklebank, Ralph: With Ralph Brocklebank's trustees by 1922
Beausire, J: Probably in the artist's sale, Christie's London, 17th and 18th May 1843, lot 206 (13s. D. White)

• Christie's, A Genius for Watercolour; Watercolours from the Eton College Collection, exhibition catalogue, London, 2003 (p. 47, no. 39)
• Arts Council of Great Britain, John Sell Cotman, 1782-1842 : a touring exhibition arranged by the Arts Council of Great Britain, London, 1982 (p. 55, no. 21 & illustrated in colour p. 63)
• Rajnai, M. & Allthorpe-Guyton, M., John Sell Cotman, 1782-1842: early drawings (1798-1812) in Norwich Castle Museum, Norwich, 1979 (p. 41)
• McConnell, J. (ed.), Treasures of Eton, London, 1976 (p. 82)
• Pilkington, A., Loan exhibition of early English watercolours, drawings by Old Masters, etchings & engravings from the collection of Alan D. Pilkington: in aid of the Distressed Gentlefolk's Aid Association, Colnaghi & Co, London, 1958 (no. 28)
• Rienaecker, V., John Sell Cotman: 1782-1842, Leigh-On-Sea, 1953 (pl. 3)
• Kitson, S.D., The Life of John Sell Cotman, London, 1937 (pp. 48 & 62)
• Grundy, C.R., A catalogue of the pictures and drawings in the collection of Frederick John Nettlefold, London, 1933, Vol. 1 (p. 120)
• The Connoisseur: an illustrated magazine for collectors, London, March 1929 (p. 186)