Period Portraits has dated this piece to the Victorian era.
The handsome, bearded sitter, is depicted in profile.
With his head turned away from the viewer Henry gazes to the right and his expression reveals the artists skill in rendering acute character. The dramatic play of light and shadow across this portrait, the artists bravura brushstrokes and painterly style, all help to conjure an attractive individual of great depth.
This fine portrait is in an excellent state of conservation and it is ready to hang and enjoy in its original antique frame which has been sympathetically refinished. It is inscribed verso in black paint on the canvas and stretcher.
Frederick George Cotman (1850 – 1920) was a celebrated British painter of portraits and landscapes and a key member of the Norwich School of painters.
Frederick was born into the Cotman family of artists. His parents were Henry Edmund Cotman (1802–1871), formerly a Norwich silk merchant and his wife Maria Taylor (1813–1895). His elder brothers, Henry Edmund Cotman (1844–1914), and Thomas Cotman (1847–1925) were born in London before the family moved to Ipswich. Frederick was born at 186 Wykes Bishop Street, Ipswich n 1850 and was the youngest child of the family. He was the nephew of John Sell Cotman and the cousin of John Joseph and Miles Edmund Cotman. He was a private pupil of William Thomson Griffiths, the Head of Ipswich School of Art.
Cotman links with the Norwich School of painters arise mainly because of his family connection with John Sell Cotman, who was one of its leading artists. However he never lived in Norfolk, unlike so many of the artists of the school.
He worked in both oil and watercolours. His best known work, One of the Family, is now held by the Walker Art Gallery in Livepool. Throughout his career, which was generally spent in London, he created over thirty paintings. He was a founder member of the influential Ipswich Art Club, and remained a member of it all his life. Cotman died in Felixstoweon 16 July 1920.
Henry Edmund Cotman (1844-1914) The sitter Henry Edmund Cotman was born in Islington, London in 1844, the son of his namesake Henry Edmund Cotman (1802-1871) who was a Norwich silk merchant, and whose elder brother was artist John Sell Cotman (1742-1842), He married Maria née Taylor (1813-1895),at Mattishall, Norfolk in 1842.
The family moved to Ipswich when Henry was young and in 1851, 7-year-old Henry was staying with his widowed aunt, 62-year-old Ann Roe, at London Road, Ipswich, also living with them was Ann's brother, 64-year-old Edmund Cotman, an annuitant, who was born at Norwich. A brother of Frederick George Cotman and to Thomas William Cotman with Henry also studying at Ipswich School of Art and in February 1900, won first prize for his painting from still life, the runner up being Silvia Packard.
In 1883 Henry moved to 7 Northgate Street, Ipswich, an assistant to his brother, architect Thomas William Cotman and the brothers were still living there in 1911, when Henry was a 'retired engineer'. Henry Edmund Cotman died at Harland House, Undercliff Road, Felixstowe, Suffolk on 9 December 1914, aged 70, he was unmarried and left his effects to his brothers Thomas William and Frederick George.
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Canvas: 24” x 20" / 62cm x 51cm
Framed: 32” x 28" / 83,5cm x 73cm
Price: £3950
Period Portraits has dated this piece to the Victorian era.
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Oil on Canvas Portrait of Henry Edmund Cotman - By Frederick George Cotman (1850-1920)
