The North Doorway, Framlingham Earl Church, Norfolk

Miles Edmund Cotman (1810-1858)
The North Doorway, Framlingham Earl Church, Norfolk

Signed lower right: ME Cotman 1840 and inscribed with title verso
16.7 by 12.4 cm., 6 1/2 by 4 3/4 in.

Provenance:
The Rev. James Bulwer (1794-1879);
With Walker Galleries, London, 1927;
With Cyril Fry, where bought by Alec Cotman, November 1966;
By descent until 2023

Literature:
C.F. Bell, Miles Edmund Cotman, Walker's Quarterly, no.21, 1927, no.63

Miles Edmund was the eldest son of John Sell Cotman. He and his brother John Joseph trained under their father and Miles first exhibited at the Norwich Society at the age of 13. In 1834, when Cotman senior was appointed drawing master at King's College, London, Miles took over his father's practice in Norwich. However, two years later, he swapped places with his brother John Joseph and moved to London to assist his father. On his father's death in 1842, Miles took over his father's professorship and remained in London until a couple of years before his death, when he returned to Norwich.

This watercolour was formerly in the collection of Rev. James Bulwer, a vicar and amateur artist, who was a close friend of Cotman senior.