Study of an artist standing in a studio, with his portfolios

The present large watercolour is derived from a drawing in the British Museum, (1902,0514.231). The central figure is identical in scale and was almost certainly copied from the drawing to the watercolour by tracing. The figure itself is unlikely to have been Cotman’s invention, and probably derives from a seventeenth-century engraving. The reworking of the figure, especially the redrawing of the shadowed right arm, is not consistent with a simple copy, and suggests that, in its early stages, the larger composition was drawn by John Sell Cotman. In his final decade, Cotman experimented on numerous occasions with arch-topped compositions. Although the sheet has in recent years been attributed to his oldest son, Miles Edmund (1810-1858), this type of subject does not really fall within the range of his interests. However, either he, or his younger brother John Joseph (1814-1878), appear to have had a hand in completing the sheet, adding the background, further objects on the shelf, and strengthening the figure with brown ink.

Timothy Wilcox has suggested that the British Museum drawing is linked to a group of etchings, mainly of figures in historical costume in interiors, which Cotman created around 1830-33, but which were only published after his death in 1846. The drawing was not used for an etching, but Cotman perhaps saw other potential in it, and began a large watercolour, which he failed to see through to completion. The additions made by members of his family could have been effected during the lifetime of the artist, or later.

We are grateful to Timothy Wilcox for his help with this catalogue entry.