Lisieux – The Artists – Cotman, John Sell
This page forms part of a series of pages dedicated to the many artists who worked in Lisieux. A full list of all the artists with a link to their works can be found at the bottom of this page.
Movement(s): –
John Sell Cotman (1782 – 1842) was an English marine and landscape painter, etcher, illustrator, author and a leading member of the Norwich School of painters.
Born in Norwich, the son of a silk merchant and lace dealer, Cotman was educated at the Norwich Grammar School. He showed an early talent for art. It was intended that he followed his father into the family business but, intent on a career in art, he moved to London in 1798, where he met artists such as J. M. W. Turner, Peter de Wint and Thomas Girtin, whose sketching club he joined, and whom he travelled with to Wales and Surrey.
His sons Miles Edmund and John Joseph Cotman became notable painters in their own right.
In January 1834, Cotman was appointed Master of Landscape Drawing at King’s College School in London, partly on the recommendation of J. M. W. Turner. In 1836, his son Miles Edmund Cotman was appointed to assist him.
In 1834 his eldest son Miles Edmund remained in Norwich to work as an art teacher, when the rest of the Cotman family moved to London upon the appointment of John Sell Cotman as a Professor of Drawing at King’s College. A year after his move to London, Mile Edmund himself moved to London, becoming his father’s assistant after his brother John Joseph moved back to Norwich. His sons Miles Edmund and John Joseph Cotman later became painters of note. Miles Edmund succeeded his father as drawing master at King’s College in 1843.
Click here to read Cotman’s full bio on Wikipedia.
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TODAY: The Saint-Pierre (Peter) cathedral still stands proudly in Lisieux today, next to the courts.
John Cotman painted in several places in France (a link “⇠” to his works in a specific city will appear below when published) :
- Hauts-de-France
- Peronne
- Normandy
- Alencon
- Avranches
- Domfront
- Evreux
- Falaise
- Fecamp ⇠
- Les Andelys
- Lisieux ⇠
- Le Havre (and surroundings) ⇠
- Mont Saint-Michel
- Mortain-Bocage
- Pont-de-l’Arche
- Rouen
- Saint Lo
- Saint-Martin-de-Boscherville
Lisieux was (and is) a town that saw a good number of artists working there. It’s an old but well preserved town. Here are some of the artists that have come to apply their art in the town (a link, symbolized by a “⇠“, to the artist’s works will appear when published. A “*” indicates that the artist did not work directly in Lisieux but instead worked outside of Lisieux in a nearby town).
- 🇺🇸 Boggs, Frank Myers ⇠
- 🇬🇧 Cotman, John Sell ⇠
- 🇬🇧 Dibdin, Thomas Colman ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Letellier, Emile-Andre ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Pissarro, Camille ⇠
- 🇬🇧 Prout, Samuel ⇠
- 🇬🇧 Rooke, Thomas Matthews ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Thorigny, Felix ⇠
- 🇫🇷 Valtat, Louis * ⇠
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