John Sell Cotman, (Norwich 1782-1842 London)

The Eagle Tower, Caernarvon Castle, North Wales

The Eagle Tower, Caernarvon Castle, North Wales
signed, dated and inscribed 'JS C**** 1802 / SWORD' (lower right)
watercolour and pencil on paper
42.7 x 32.1cm (16 13/16 x 12 5/8in).

Provenance
Sale, Sotheby's, London, 1 April 1993, lot 59, where purchased by the present owner

Exhibited
Probably London, Royal Academy, 1802, no. 460 as Caernarvon Castle, North Wales

Cotman made a tour of North Wales in 1800 travelling via Bristol to Caernarvon and reaching Conway in August, and it is possible he undertook a second trip in 1802 although no dated drawings exist to confirm this. (The present work, dated 1802, may be based on a sketch from the 1800 tour and worked up a later date).

The landscape of Wales could not have been more different from the flat terrain of East Anglia to which Cotman was accustomed. The dramatic, craggy mountains he encountered and waterside castles were his first experience of 'sublime' landscape and will have left an indelible impression on him; it was in fact a turning point in his career. The central light source in this watercolour, appearing to radiate out from the base of the castle, was a device first pioneered by Girtin and it is used by Cotman to great dramatic effect in other works of this period (see The interior of a barn, possibly in Wales, Sotheby's, 9 July 2014, lot 190). The present piece is one of the most impressive of his views of Wales and was very probably the view of Caernarvon Castle exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1802.