John Sell Cotman

(Norwich 1782-1842 London)

Part of the Refectory of Walsingham Abbey, Norfolk

Footnotes

Provenance
Francis Gibson of Saffron Walden, (d. 1860)
His son-in-law, Rt Hon Lewis Fry MP (d. 1921)
Lewis G. Fry (1860-1933)
Dr L.S. Fry, and thence by descent through the family

Exhibited
Norwich, Norwich Society of Artists, 1811, no. 133, (Part of Walsingham Abbey, Norfolk – sketch for Cotman's Antiquities of Norfolk)
London, Burlington Fine Arts Club, Exhibition of drawings in watercolour and in black and white by John Sell Cotman, 1888, no.32 (Interior of Walsingham Abbey)
London, Tate Gallery, Exhibition of works by John Sell Cotman and some related painters of the Norwich School, 1922, no. 178 (Walsingham Abbey)
Amsterdam, Stedelijk Museum, Twee eeuwen Engelse Kunst, 1936, no. 238

Literature
S.D. Kitson, The Life of John Sell Cotman, London, 1937, pp. 108-9, no. 297
M. Hardie, Water-colour painting in Britain vol. II: The Romantic period, London, 1967, p. 83
M. Rajnai and M. Allthorpe-Guyton, John Sell Cotman 1782-1842. Early drawings (1798-1812) in Norwich Castle Museum, London, 1979, p. 90

The very fame of Walsingham Priory as the most celebrated pilgrimage site in Britain, surpassing even Beckett's shrine at Canterbury, ensured its almost complete destruction at the hands of Henry VIII. Of the church itself, only the east window was left standing; the partially demolished refectory alone remained, with its fine late 13th-century tracery and carved finials, to give any impression of the grandeur of the whole complex. Cotman first visited soon after his return to Norwich in 1806, and produced three of his boldest watercolours. The magnificent arch of the Priory window is now in the National Gallery of Victoria, Melbourne, and the east window of the Refectory in the City Art Gallery, Leeds. The third is this view of the south wall of the Refectory, partially obscured by a great solid block, most likely lime for the building works which were taking place around 1807-8. The sense of mass, and the drama of the sharp silhouette owe a great deal to Girtin, but Cotman introduced his own personal twist on the fashion for the Picturesque ruin with a wealth of distracting incident: untidy stacks of planks, a tool sharpener, a rickety staircase. All put present human concerns before any reverence for antiquity.

Cotman returned to Walsingham in July 1811; he was just embarking on his first set of etchings of Norfolk architecture and wanted to study these important remains afresh. His print of the same subject, 'Part of the Refectory of Walsingham Abbey' (fig. 1), was among the earliest to be completed, in 1812 (historically, it was never more than a priory, despite its familiar designation, then, and now). He took the earlier watercolour as a model, but cropped the more recent Abbey House, concentrating only on the mediaeval arches, accentuating their shape with the change to a vertical format. The print was dedicated to the owner of the house, Henry Lee Warner. It seems likely that the earlier watercolour was chosen by Cotman to draw attention to the forthcoming publication and exhibited at the Norwich Society in 1811, since neither of the other Walsingham subjects was etched.

In 1831 Cotman was approached by the banker Francis Gibson of Saffron Walden, who had admired the latest watercolours exhibited in London. Cotman sold him several of his finest early productions, and Gibson continued to acquire new work from Cotman until the end of the decade. He was virtually the only regular client outside Norfolk in Cotman's entire career. His watercolours were lent by his descendants to every subsequent Cotman retrospective, beginning with London in 1888, then the Tate Gallery in 1922 and finally the bicentenary exhibition of 1982, although this particular work has not been seen in public for more than a generation. Kitson, in his 1937 biography of Cotman, refers to it twice, as 'that superb drawing' and 'the loveliest of the Walsingham drawings', an opinion which the passage of time has more than confirmed.

We are grateful to Timothy Wilcox for preparing this catalogue entry.