John Sell Cotman The North side of the South Gate, Yarmouth

Watercolour over traces of pencil, inscribed in a later hand on old mount: North side of South Gate-Yarmouth, taken down in 1812. John Sell Cotman/ EXHIB 1812?
18.5 x 22.7 cm.; 7 ¼ x 8 15/16 inches

Provenance
Mrs Craig Henderson, her sale, Christie’s, London, 24 October
1960, (part) lot 56, bt. Spink;
Mr & Mrs Giles Pilcher until 1987;
With Agnew’s, London, 1992;
Private collection until 2004;
With W/S Fine Art;
Private collection until 2018;
With Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, 2019;
Private collection, U.K. until 2024

Exhibited
Probably Norwich Society of Artists, 1812, no. 63;
Agnew’s, 119th Annual Exhibition of English Watercolours and drawings, 1992, no. 35;
W/S Fine Art (Andrew Wyld), Landscape on Paper, June 2007, no. 23;
Guy Peppiatt Fine Art, British Drawings and Watercolours, 2019,no. 25

Engraved
Etched by Cotman as the last plate in Specimens of Norman and Gothic Architecture in the County of Norfolk, 1817

Cotman and his family moved to Yarmouth in April 1812 on the suggestion of Dawson Turner (1775-1858), his friend and patron. They lived at Bank House, Southtown, a mile from the centre of the town until 1823 when they returned to Norwich. The South Gate was destroyed later in 1812. There is a finished pencil drawing by Cotman of the subject in the Norwich Castle collection numbered 2363. https://www.museumscollections.norfolk.gov.uk/collections-ob-ject-page?id=NWHCM%20:%201932.105.25


In this atmospheric watercolour which is in exceptional condition, Cotman focuses his artistic attention on the massive body of the gatehouse, skilfully exploring the textures of the stone walls and the interplay of light, shade and colour using a restricted palette. He has deliberately focused on the gate and left the cottages in the foreground lightly washed in without adding further details. The delicately drawn masts of a couple of ships to the right of the tower allude to the proximity of the sea.

The subject became well known through the popular etching produced in 1817 for Specimens of Norman and Gothic Architecture in the county of Norfolk. There is greater architectural detail in the print which is closer to the pencil drawing.