View of Domfront, Normandy, from the Rock of Tertre Grisière
Maker
(artist)
1782-1842
1782-1842
Title
View of Domfront, Normandy, from the Rock of Tertre Grisière
Date of Production
1823
Medium
graphite, brown ink and watercolour, with scratching out, on wove paper (heavily rubbed in areas), with some added gum or varnish
Dimensions
Height: 29.5 cm
Width: 41.6 cm
Width: 41.6 cm
Accession Number
D.1967.WS.22
Mode of Acquisition
William Wycliffe Spooner, bequest, 1967
Credit
The Courtauld, London (Samuel Courtauld Trust)
Copyright
Work in the public domain
Location
Not currently on display
Keywords
Label Text
Cotman stayed for a week in Domfront in August 1820 on his third and final tour of Normandy. He found the town ‘extremely grand’, with its dramatic rocky outcrop surmounted by the twelfth-century castle towering above the 200 feet deep Val des Rochers, and drew the view from several vantage points, later working up a number of finished watercolours. In his treatment of rock, Cotman reveals his skill at reducing natural forms to simple geometric shapes, presenting them in flat planes close to the surface.
Provenance
the artist's sale, Christie's (London), 1 May 1824, lot 109 (one of two views of Domfront); Charles Hampden Turner (1772-1856), Rook's Nest, Surrey; his estate sale, Christie's (London), 9 June 1873, lot 176; purchased there by Sir Westrow Hulse (£3); William Wycliffe Spooner, Ilkley (1882-1967); Spooner Bequest 1967
Exhibition History
Earth: Digging Deep in British Art 1715 – 2022, Royal West of England Academy, Bristol, 09/07/2022-11/09/2022
Cotman in Normandy, Dulwich Picture Gallery & London & England, 10/10/2012-13/01/2013 ...More
La Normandie romantique et pittoresque, Musee des Beaux-Arts & Rouen & France, 16/05/2009-16/08/2009
British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Huntington Museum and Art Gallery, Los Angeles, 12/02/2005-15/05/2005
British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Huntington Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 12/02/2005-15/05/2005; Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, 18/07/2005-23/10/2005; Hermitage Rooms, Somerset House, London, 16/11/2005-12/02/2006
The Four Elements, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1996
Great Age of British Watercolours, Royal Academy, London and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 15/01/1993-25/07/1993
The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/09/1986-30/11/1986; The Drawing Center, New York, 08/04/1986-26/07/1986
John Sell Cotman 1782-1842. A touring exhibition arranged by the Arts Council of Great Britain, V&A, London; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, 1982-83
Masters of the Watercolour - Watercolours from the Spooner
Collection, Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, 1969
The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/04/1968-01/07/1968
English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe
Spooner, Harrogate, 1968 ...Less
Cotman in Normandy, Dulwich Picture Gallery & London & England, 10/10/2012-13/01/2013 ...More
La Normandie romantique et pittoresque, Musee des Beaux-Arts & Rouen & France, 16/05/2009-16/08/2009
British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Huntington Museum and Art Gallery, Los Angeles, 12/02/2005-15/05/2005
British Watercolours from the Spooner Collection, Huntington Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 12/02/2005-15/05/2005; Wordsworth Trust, Grasmere, 18/07/2005-23/10/2005; Hermitage Rooms, Somerset House, London, 16/11/2005-12/02/2006
The Four Elements, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 1996
Great Age of British Watercolours, Royal Academy, London and National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 15/01/1993-25/07/1993
The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 03/09/1986-30/11/1986; The Drawing Center, New York, 08/04/1986-26/07/1986
John Sell Cotman 1782-1842. A touring exhibition arranged by the Arts Council of Great Britain, V&A, London; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, 1982-83
Masters of the Watercolour - Watercolours from the Spooner
Collection, Holburne Museum of Art, Bath, 1969
The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, The Courtauld Gallery, London, 01/04/1968-01/07/1968
English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe
Spooner, Harrogate, 1968 ...Less
Literature
The Spooner Collection of British Watercolours, Courtauld Institute Galleries; Huntington Library; Wordsworth Trust, 2005-06
cat. no. 64
ill. on p. 201
English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe Spooner, Harrogate, 1968
cat. no. 61
ill. on p. 11
Troutman, Philip, 'The Evocation of Atmosphere in the English Water-colour' in Apollo, July 1968
no. 77, p. 56 ...More
The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1968
cat. no. 82
Rajnai, Miklos and Marjorie Allthorpe-Guyton, John Sell Cotman. Drawings of Normandy in Norwich Castle Museum, Norfolk Museums Service 1975
under no. 22, n. 8
White, Christopher, English landscape 1630-1850, New Haven 1977
p. 102 under no. 180
John Sell Cotman 1782-1842. A touring exhibition arranged by the Arts Council of Great Britain, V&A, London; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, 1982
no. 90
ill.
The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1986
cat. no. 79
ill. on p. 183
Brown, David Blayney, Andrew Hemingway, and Anne Lyles, Romantic landscape: the Norwich School of Painters, Tate Gallery, London 2000
p. 112 under no. 77
Cormier, Jean-Philippe, 'John Sell Cotman, peintre de Domfront: une vue extraordinaire de notre-dame-sur-l'eau avant sa destruction partielle' in 'Le Domfrontais Médiéval', 2008-09; 20
pp. 16, 19
ill. on p. 18
Cotman in Normandy, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 2012-13
no. 29
ill. and in detail on p. 76
Christiana Payne, Earth: Digging Deep in British Art 1781-2022, Sansom and Company, Redcliffe Press Ltd., Bristol 2022 - 128
36-37
ill. on p. 37 ...Less
cat. no. 64
ill. on p. 201
English Water-Colours: Memorial Exhibition to William Wycliffe Spooner, Harrogate, 1968
cat. no. 61
ill. on p. 11
Troutman, Philip, 'The Evocation of Atmosphere in the English Water-colour' in Apollo, July 1968
no. 77, p. 56 ...More
The William Spooner Collection and Bequest, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1968
cat. no. 82
Rajnai, Miklos and Marjorie Allthorpe-Guyton, John Sell Cotman. Drawings of Normandy in Norwich Castle Museum, Norfolk Museums Service 1975
under no. 22, n. 8
White, Christopher, English landscape 1630-1850, New Haven 1977
p. 102 under no. 180
John Sell Cotman 1782-1842. A touring exhibition arranged by the Arts Council of Great Britain, V&A, London; Whitworth Art Gallery, Manchester, City of Bristol Museum and Art Gallery, 1982
no. 90
ill.
The Northern Landscape: Flemish, Dutch and British Drawings from the Courtauld Collections, Courtauld Gallery, London, 1986
cat. no. 79
ill. on p. 183
Brown, David Blayney, Andrew Hemingway, and Anne Lyles, Romantic landscape: the Norwich School of Painters, Tate Gallery, London 2000
p. 112 under no. 77
Cormier, Jean-Philippe, 'John Sell Cotman, peintre de Domfront: une vue extraordinaire de notre-dame-sur-l'eau avant sa destruction partielle' in 'Le Domfrontais Médiéval', 2008-09; 20
pp. 16, 19
ill. on p. 18
Cotman in Normandy, Dulwich Picture Gallery, London, 2012-13
no. 29
ill. and in detail on p. 76
Christiana Payne, Earth: Digging Deep in British Art 1781-2022, Sansom and Company, Redcliffe Press Ltd., Bristol 2022 - 128
36-37
ill. on p. 37 ...Less
Inscriptions
Watermark: Watermark: none.
Inscription: Recto: lower left corner, brown ink, signed by the artist: "JS Cotman / 1823".
Collector's mark: none.
Inscription: Recto: lower left corner, brown ink, signed by the artist: "JS Cotman / 1823".
Collector's mark: none.
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