Norwich River: Afternoon

The Norwich Society of artists was founded in 1803 by John Crome (1768-1821) and his friend Robert Ladbrooke. It brought together professional painters, drawing masters and amateurs; becoming what was the only regional school of painting in England.

John Sell Cotman joined the Society in 1807 and became one of its great masters. Other members of what became known as ‘The Norwich School’ were John Berney Crome, George Vincent, James Stark, Joseph and Alfred Stannard, John Thirtle, Thomas Lound and Henry Ninham. This group of artists found their inspiration in the heaths and woodland of East Anglia, together with rivers, such as the Yare, and the Norfolk coast. They flourished as a group throughout the first half of the nineteenth century.

The work of the Norwich School painters was based on realism, derived from direct observation of the local landscape. It represented a departure from the tradition of classical landscape as seen in the work of Claude and Poussin. Their influences included the tradition of Dutch landscape painting, including such artists as Jacob van Ruisdael and Albert Cuyp.

John Crome was born in Norwich, the son of a weaver. He was apprenticed to a house painter and later became a drawing master. He was influenced by the work of the Dutch masters, especially that of Hobbema, and progressed to become one of the great English landscape painters.

‘Norwich River: Afternoon’ is considered to be one of Crome’s finest works, combining the themes loved by the Norwich School. Evocative of a warm summer’s day, it depicts the River Wensum, at a location near the New Mills, at St Martin’s at Oak, close to where the artist lived, in St George’s Street, Norwich.