Cotman, JOHN SELL

Cotman, JOHN SELL, an artist of the 'Norwich School,' was born 16th May 1782, and educated at Norwich grammar-school, till, about 1798, he went up to London to study art, and there made Turner's acquaintance. In 1807 he returned to his native city, where he taught drawing and published etchings and engravings of local architecture, brasses, &c. In 1834 he obtained, through Turner, the post of drawing-master in King's College, London, but his later years were clouded by much suffering. He died 24th July 1842. Cotman's fame as a water-colour landscapist has grown steadily; indeed Mr Cosmo Monkhouse opines that 'taken altogether he was the most gifted of the Norwich School, wider in range, a finer draughtsman, and of more refined and cultivated individuality, than "Old Crome." His second son, Joseph John Cotman (1814-78), was also a landscape-painter.