Capel Carrig, Caernarvonshire

Henry George Bohn|John Sell Cotman

1838 · Soft-ground etching · Drawings and Prints

This etching of a Welsh chapel demonstrates Cotman’s lifelong fascination with the irregularity of old buildings. Gothic arches screen a small side chapel near neatly arranged rows of heavy benches. Broken stone slabs in the left foreground disrupt the orderly interior. In 1824 Cotman had begun a series of etchings titled Liber Studiorum, which paid tribute to J.M.W. Turner’s famous series of 1807–9. Where Turner employed mezzotint engravers to add tone to his etched outlines, Cotman’s choice of soft-ground etching enabled him to create his prints without assistance.

Artist

Henry George Bohn|John Sell Cotman

Date

1838

Medium

Soft-ground etching

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Rogers Fund, 1922