Studio: international art (84.1922)

THE ETCHINGS OF JOHN SELL COTMAN

" GRAND FESTIVAL AT GREAT
YARMOUTH, 1814." ETCH-
ING BY JOHN SELL COTMAN

and patron, Dawson Turner, in a volume
of Cotman's etchings which is now in the
possession of the Cotswold Gallery.
Inserted in this volume are two proofs cf
different states of an etching which Mr.
Dawson Turner says was the first plate
Cotman etched. It represents a row cf old
cottages—probably at Norwich—with a
pool of water in the foreground; it
measures 15m. by 1 iin., and it is signed and
dated " London, June 1810." In the first
state the work is too open, and the effect,
though not unpleasing, needs strengthening.
Cotman seems to have laid a new ground,
added a sky and a good deal of fresh work
on the buildings, etc. But the second biting
was not so successful as the first. The bitten
lines were not sufficiently protected, as the
acid soon got at them and made them
heavier than they were intended to be, and
foul-biting in the sky spoilt the general
effect. The second proof was so unsatis-
factory that Cotman abandoned the plate
and it was never published. Impressions of
this plate are not to be found in the British
Museum, but one of the first state was
included in the recent loan exhibition of
Cotman's works at the Tate Gallery. Up
to the present, I have not been able to dis-
cover or hear of any other impression of the
second state than the one which is here
reproduced by the courtesy of the Cotswold
Gallery. 0 0 000
Cotman's subsequent efforts were more
successful, for we find him writing to
Dawson Turner on 24th November, 1810,
to forward the printed prospectus of a
collection of etchings which was to be

published in six parts. Each part was to
contain four plates and was to ccst the
modest sum of seven shillings. The first
part, it was stated, " will be delivered to
Subscribers as early as possible in January,
1811." By the time this letter was written
the undertaking must have been well under
way, for specimens of the plates were
stated to be on view at Mr. Munns's,
114 New Bond Street, and at various
addresses in Norwich, Lynn and Yar-
mouth. Nearly all the plates in this collec-
tion, which was duly published in 1811, are
dated, the earliest being dated August, 1810,
and the latest on the 30th May, 1811. 0
This first volume cf Cotman's etchings
seems to have been successful. The list of
subscribers contained 212 names, and in a
printed " Address to the Subscribers " he
stated that the support he had received had
enabled him to raise the price of the copies
still in hand from two guineas to two and a
half. Twelve additional plates were
published during 1811, and Cotman at once
set to work on a new publication containing
60 etchings of Specimens of Architectural
Antiquities of Norfolk. The first part was
ready on 1st January, 1812. Between that
date and 1818 Cotman produced, in
addition to these 60 plates, three other sets
of etchings numbering about 230 plates, as
well as the curious illustrations of the
Grand Festival at Yarmouth in celebration
of the Fall of Napoleon. In 1817 Cotman
visited Normandy for the first time. The
sketches made then, and during two
subsequent visits, formed the basis of his
work on the " Architectural Antiquities of

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