The Old Collecge House, Conway, WalesThe Old College House, Conway, Wales by John Sell Cotman, 1782-1842

John Sell Cotman, 1782-1842
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The Old Collecge House, Conway, Wales The Old College House, Conway, Wales

Original etching in black ink. 1811. With the etched publication line: Etched and Published May 30th 1811 by J.S.Cotman Norwich. From the rare first edition, issued by Cotman 1811.
Ref: Popham - J.S.Cotman Etchings no 18

Extremely fine sparkling first issue impression. On pale cream soft wove paper. generally excellnt condition; some faint traces of old time discolouration. Full margins.
Sheet: 18 5/8 x 13 3/8ins. Plate: 12 x 8 1/2ins (305x215mm).

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Cotman was one of the most inspired and gifted British landscape artists of the early nineteenth century. WIth John Crome (see Bixley, Norfolk, Hoveton St. Peter, Norfolk, Road Scene near Trowse Hall, Norfolk and Back of the New Mills, Norwich) he was a founder of the Norwich Society, and worked for much of his life on themes from the countryside of East Anglia, as well as making extended painting trips to Wales, the north of England and to northern France. His inspiration lay in his desire to capture the feeling and sensation of natural light, not as a romantic ideal but with a true realism. He had a special feeling for the way that light plays over the surfaces of nature and over the differing textures and patterns of buildings.

Like Crome (q.v.) Cotman was an extremely gifted etcher, and amongst the earliest British artists to see it as a principal medium for his art. He developed a very individual and personal manner of handling line, in short curls and parallel shading, which he used to beautiful effect to capture the patterns of light which are at the centre of his art.