Sailboat
n.d.
Medium
Graphite on cream wove paper
Dimensions
6 × 6.6 cm (2 3/8 × 2 5/8 in.)
Classification
graphite
Department
Prints and Drawings
Museum
Art Institute of Chicago
Accession Number
82793
Art Historical Context
John Sell Cotman, a figure of the Norwich School of artists in early 19th-century Britain was renowned for his masterful landscape drawings that captured the subtle beauty of nature with remarkable precision and atmosphere. This intimate graphite sketch, *Sailboat* (n.d.), exemplifies his skill in rendering everyday scenes with economical yet evocative lines. Measuring just 6 × 6.6 cm, it likely originated from one of Cotman's portable sketchbooks, used during plein air excursions along England's rivers and coasts. Rendered in graphite on cream wove paper—a favored support for its smooth text...
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...