Miles Edmund was John Sell Cotman’s eldest son and his closest collaborator, his work often very similar to that of his father. He is particularly famed for his seascapes in watercolour of which the present work is a fine, exhibited, example. He was born in Norwich and spent his childhood and adolescence in Great Yarmouth, learning from his father. He exhibited with the Norwich Society of Artists from 1823, when the family returned to Norwich, and assisted his father with a drawing school run from the family home.

He married Elizabeth Juby in 1842 and they had three children. The family lived in North London in the early 1850s but returned to Norfolk a few years later, where Cotman continued to paint and teach.

M.E. Cotman’s work can be found in many public collections including the British Museum and Norwich Castle Museum & Art Gallery.