Farm Building by a Pond

John Sell Cotman

1808–11(?) · Watercolor over graphite · Drawings and Prints

The freely applied, rough-edged layers of graduated tone in the sky and the patterning Cotman devised to describe the timbers, tiles, and foliage are all characteristic of the artist’s work around 1810. Four years earlier he had returned from London to his hometown of Norwich, established a drawing school, and begun to make small works such as this for students to copy. Deliberately simplified forms characterize the two-part rustic building—with its plastered and half-timbered walls and tiled and thatched roofs—set before trees and overlooking the sea.

Artist

John Sell Cotman

Date

1808–11(?)

Medium

Watercolor over graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1906