Lakenham, Near Norwich
Bright sunlight casts the shadow of a small girl onto a cottage wall as she plays with a dog. The patches of plaster that have fallen away reveal patterned boards beneath and reflect Cotman’s delight in the decayed irregularity of old buildings. The rustic architectural forms also echo those in his earlier watercolor Farm Building by a Pond (ca. 1808–11), on view nearby. Here the soft-ground etching technique enabled him to adapt into print the tones and patterns characteristic of his graphite drawings.
Artwork Details
- Title: Lakenham, Near Norwich
- Series/Portfolio: Liber Studiorum: A Series of Sketches and Studies
- Artist: John Sell Cotman (British, Norwich 1782–1842 London)
- Publisher: Henry George Bohn (British, London 1796–1884 Twickenham)
- Published in: London
- Date: 1838
- Medium: Soft-ground etching
- Dimensions: Plate: 9 5/16 × 6 3/8 in. (23.6 × 16.2 cm)
Sheet: 13 7/16 × 9 1/2 in. (34.1 × 24.2 cm) - Classification: Prints
- Credit Line: Rogers Fund, 1922
- Object Number: 22.100(40)
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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