John Sell Cotman

Date of birth: 1782 — Date of death: 1842

Cotman was born in Norwich and went to London at the age of 16, where he started his career hand -colouring prints for the entrepreneurial print and book publisher Rudolph Ackermann (1764-1834), although in 1799 he left to work with the patron Dr Thomas Monro (1759-1833). It was at Monro's house that Cotman came into contact with a doctor with a passion for art. Cotman became a prominent member of the Sketching Club founded by Thomas Girtin (1775-1802) for the first time, and in 1801, and again the following year, travelled in North Wales. In 1803 he began a series of visits to Yorkshire where he visited his important patrons, Mr and Mrs Cholmeley of Brandsby Hall. In 1806 he moved back to Norwich where he settled for a time, and joined the Norwich Society of Artists. He then moved to Yarmouth (also in Norfolk) in 1812, The patronage of the local antiquarian Dawson Turner enabled him to make three visits to France, which resulted in a magnificent book of etchings, 'Architectural Antiquities of Normandy', published in 1822. He returned again to Norwich to live there between 1824-1833. He was finally appointed Professor of Drawing at King's College, London, where he remained until his death. His sons Miles Edmund Cotman (1810-1858) and John Joseph Cotman (1814-1878) were also painters and members of the Norwich School.