Dock Leaves by a Streamcalled At Kirkham

This watercolour was traditionally called 'At Kirkham', thirteen miles from Brandsby in Yorkshire where Cotman travelled in 1803 and 1805. Stylistically it relates to the Greta period watercolours, and in all probability is a Yorkshire subject. The curious leaf forms are characteristic of Cotman and are found in several of his drawings and etchings from around this period. Cotman seems to have had a special fascination for foliage. In August 1804, following a visit to Croyland Abbey, Lincolnshire, he wrote: 'The old part is full of Nature - the Door, the Window in short, the whole. Wonderful - there is not one upright line in the composition therefore let not the Botanists criticise when they come to see it if they find me out of the perpendicular'.