drawing
- Museum number
- 1902,0514.15
- Description
-
Head of a man in Van Dyck dress; nearly half-length turned to right, eyes to left, wearing large cloak with frilled collar, and beard
Graphite with watercolour
- Production date
- 1804-1807
- Dimensions
-
Height: 311 millimetres
-
Width: 209 millimetres
- Curator's comments
- This drawing has been associated with Cotman's decision to leave London and return to Norwich in 1806 in order to open a drawing school (see A. Holcomb, 'John Sell Cotman', 1978, pp.11-2). Thought to be 'Sketch after Vandyke', no. 105 in the 1807 Norwich Society of Artists exhibition. Cotman showed a number of portraits at this and the two subsequent exhibitions, styling himself as 'portrait painter' in the in 1808 and 1809 catalogues. This was a deliberate attempt to diversify his artistic practice following his failure to establish a viable career in the capital, and he also began to exhibit works in oil in this period. These strategies were unsuccessful, however, and from 1810 he had returned to landscape watercolours and was no longer showing portraits or oils at the Norwich exhibitions.
In 1978, there was a similar Van Dyck head by Cotman in an album in a private collection, and this might be the same work as 'A cavalier - after Van Dyck' at Sotheby's, lot 212, 21 Mar 2002. Both the album and the drawing offered at auction were owned by Hannah Chapman Gurney (1787-1850), daughter of the Norwich banker, Jospeh Gurney. An amateur artist, Hannah Gurney recorded meeting Cotman in 1804 in her diary and receiving drawing lessons from him in 1807. Cotman probably provided her with the portrait after Van Dyck as a drawing-copy, and 1902,0514.15 may have served a similar purpose in his teaching practice. The album and Hannah Gurney's association with Cotman are described in a letter in the dossier. The letter also proposes an alternative date for 1902,0514.15, of late 1804 to early 1805, based upon the chronological arrangement of the album.
- Location
- Not on display
- Exhibition history
-
1807 Norwich Society of Artists, no.105
- Acquisition date
- 1902
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1902,0514.15
