Near Durham

Henry George Bohn|John Sell Cotman

1838 · Soft-ground etching · Drawings and Prints

In addition to working in oils and watercolors, Cotman was a prolific etcher, issuing his first prints in 1811. This etching comes from a group published in 1838 by Henry G. Bohn from Cotman’s plates for a set devoted to "principles of Landscape composition." The title of the series, Liber Studiorum (Book of Studies), derives from that used by J. M. W. Turner in a famous 1807–9 series of prints in which the artist sought to elevate landscape as a poetic and sublime genre. Cotman’s most evocative images are decidedly more rustic than Turner’s. Near Durham centers on a medieval tower that once fronted a Norman church, with a ruined wall and buried arch shown in the background to suggest what was lost.

Artist

Henry George Bohn|John Sell Cotman

Date

1838

Medium

Soft-ground etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922