drawing
- Museum number
- 1902,0514.291
- Description
-
Trees and rocks; study of woodland with large boulders in the foreground and two gnarled trunks of oak trees above. 1800
Graphite
- Production date
- 1800
- Dimensions
-
Height: 367 millimetres
-
Width: 262 millimetres
- $Inscriptions
-
- Curator's comments
- Cotman's earliest dated study of trees, this sketch was made during his tour of Wales in July and August 1800. On 28 July, the date on this drawing, Cotman was making his way from the Barmouth Estuary towards Harlech, which he drew in an inscribed drawing now in Norwich two days later, on 30 July (M. Rajnai & M. Allthorpe-Guyton, ‘John Sell Cotman 1782-1842, Early Drawings (1798-1812) in Norwich Castle Museum’, Norfolk Museums Service, 1979, cat. 7). It is remarkable to find the artist taking an interest in such a wide range of objects that presented themselves during this journey. Two days previously, he made a drawing of a water conduit, perhaps associated with mineworkings, also now in Norwich (ibid, cat. 6).
For curatorial comment on the function of tree studies within Cotman’s teaching practice, and on the subsequent compilation of collections of tree studies, see 1902,0514.319.
- Location
- Not on display
- Acquisition date
- 1902
- Acquisition notes
- Included in a folio of forty-six drawings of trees purchased by Reeve from J.J.Cotman in 1864 (1902,0514.291-335)
- Department
- Prints and Drawings
- Registration number
- 1902,0514.291
