DEPARTMENT OF PRINTS AND .DRAWINGS. 45 



The Reeve Collection. ' 



This collection is distinguished both by choiceness and 

 completeness. Mr. Reeve's connection with Norwich, his 

 personal acq^uaintance with members of the School, and his 

 intimate knowledge of its history and productions, derived 

 from life-long study, have given him unrivalled authority on 

 the difficult subject of Norwich art, complicated as it is by 

 the existence of very numerous and skilful imitations of the 

 style of the greater men. His collection has long enjoyed 

 recognition as by far the finest of its kind. It includes 

 examples of the work of those able and highly trained 

 amateurs, distinctive of the Norwich School, who caught 

 from its fine tradition unusual breadth of style. The capital 

 feature of the collection is the set of three hundred and 

 seventeen drawings by John Sell Cotman, the pre-eminent 

 master in black and white and in water colours of the whole 

 school. The series includes representative examples of the 

 artist's work in all the many phases through which he 

 passed. Among the thirty water colours may be signalised, 

 *' Greta Bridge," perhaps the most famous of all Cotman's 

 drawings, '' Duncombe Park," " Household Heath," " Post- 

 wick Grove," " Bamborough Castle," and *' A Chateau in 

 Normandy." But the artist's range and power are still better 

 shown in the black and white compositions and studies, 

 some of the finest of which are comprised in the section of 

 twenty-three drawings in monochrome wash (Indian ink or 

 sepia, with or without chalk or pencil) ; among these may be 

 specially mentioned " Breaking the Clod," " Dewy Eve/' 

 "A Shadowed Stream," and "Arches in the Cloister of 

 St. George de Bocherville." The pencil and chalk studies and 

 sketches amount to two hundred and sixty-four, the most 

 notable group being a series in black and white chalk on grey 

 paper, made in the last autumn of Cotman's life, during flood- 

 time, as " The Wold Afloat," " Below Langley," and " A 

 Storm ofl" Cromer." Another set consists of small but masterly 

 pencil copies after Turner, chiefly from the Liber Studiorum. 

 Groups of sketches made on or about Dartmoor, and of 

 shipping on the Medway, may also be mentioned. Of the 

 other members of the Cotman family. Miles Edmund Cotman 

 is represented by six water-colours (three or four being of 

 exquisite quality) and eighteen black and white studies ; John 

 Joseph Cotman, by eight coloured drawings, two of them of 

 large size, and three in sepia or pencil; Anne Cotman, by a 

 pencil study. 



The three water colours by John Crome, the greatest 

 oil painter of the school, especially " Woodland Scene, 

 Dunham," and " Waiting for the Ferry," are of particular 

 importance, owing to the great rarity of genuine drav/ings 

 by his hand. His- style is also illustrated by six studies in 

 Indian ink and two pencil sketches. 



