Boats off the Coast, Storm Approaching
1830
Medium
Watercolor over traces of graphite, with gouache (bodycolor), scratching out, stopping out, and gum arabic
Dimensions
Sheet: 18 9/16 × 25 11/16 in. (47.2 × 65.2 cm)
Classification
Drawings
Department
Drawings and Prints
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Purchase, Charles and Jessie Price Gift, 2017
Accession Number
2017.75
Tags
Art Historical Context
John Sell Cotman's *Boats off the Coast Storm Approaching* (0) captures the raw power of nature in a masterful watercolor seascape. Painted late in the artist's career, it depicts fragile boats tossed on turbulent waves under a brooding sky, evoking the fascination with sublime landscapes and humanity's vulnerability to the sea. As a leading figure of the Norwich School—a group of British artists emphasizing direct observation of nature—Cotman transformed everyday coastal scenes into dramatic visions of impending peril. Cotman's technical brilliance shines through his innovative use of waterc...
About the Artist
John Sell Cotman · 1782–1842
John Sell Cotman (1782–1842) was one of the most original and technically innovative English watercolorists of his generation, a central figure of the Norwich School whose bold, flattened compositions and luminous washes of color place him among the most modern-feeling of early nineteenth-century British artists. Born in Norwich, Norfolk, Cotman moved to London as a young man and studied in the ci...