You are hereHomeWeb ExhibitionsNorwich School Introduction

Norwich School Etchings  

The Norwich School, as well as being the first provincial English art movement, can be seen as the first group of painter-etchers in England. They anticipated the Etching Revival by several decades in creating original etched images as independent works of art.

In the 18th century only a few individual painters, usually also landscape painters, had very occasionally etched but the medium was most commonly used for drawing books while in earlier centuries printmaking was largely the province of Continental artists who had settled in London.

The Norwich Society of Artists was at the heart of what has become known as the Norwich School. Incidentally, the city’s Grammar School, at which several of the Society’s members received their initial education, was possibly unique, country-wide, in having a drawing class. John Crome was the drawing master there for many years.

John Crome: Sandy Road through woodland, etching, 1813

John Crome and his brother-in-law Robert Ladbrooke, with friends, set up the Norwich Society of Artists in 1803, meeting “to conduct an Enquiry into the Rise, Progress and Present State of Painting, Architecture and Sculpture with a view to point out the Best methods of Study to attain to Greater Perfection in these Arts”. Initially what was essentially a club of artists met in a tavern, but in 1805 they found premises with space for working and holding exhibitions. Annual exhibitions, except for a three year hiatus 1825-28, were held from 1805 until 1833, when the Society effectively ceased. Crome had died in 1821 and Cotman, who succeeded him as President moved to London in 1834. However the Norwich landscape painting tradition continued through three generations, often closely linked through parentage and teachers.

William Howes Hunt: North Denes (Yarmouth)

One of the main influences on the Norwich School artists was Dutch 17th century landscape painting, examples of which they studied in local private collections, especially the works of Ruysdael and Hobbema. But in their etchings several also show an awareness of Rembrandt.

Rembrandt’s etched landscapes have a freshness and a directness of observation that is modern and separates them from other earlier and contemporary landscape etchers, so it is natural that he inspired future generations active in the genre.

Anne Cholmeley, the sister of Cotman’s Yorkshire patron Francis Cholmley liked Duncombe Park, in Cotman’s first set of etchings, published 1811, because it seemed “most like Rembrandt’s” and her brother wrote to Cotman of The Manor House York, in the same series, that it was “very good and Rembrandtish”. However Cotman wrote in reply that “it would not do to follow that master in my [architectural] subjects”.

John Sell Cotman: Duncombe Park John Sell Cotman: Manor House, York

One of the etchings, plate 44, in Cotman’s Liber Studiorum is directly adapted from Rembrandt. Henry Ninham’s and Thomas Lound’s use of drypoint recalls Rembrandt.
Lucy Brightwell made several very accurate direct copies of Rembrandt landscapes, even reversing them onto the plates so that they print, as etchings, in the right direction.

Cecilia Lucy Brightwell, after Rembrandt: View of Amsterdam from the North West

Francis Cholmely had also written that generally subscribers to Cotman’s 1811 set “did not like the etching of Duncombe Park, because it might be anywhere. Two thirds of mankind you know, mind more what is represented than how it is done”. And indeed another determining characteristic of the Norwich School etchers is their delight in motifs observed in the local landscape, quiet nooks and corners, not necessarily topographically specific.

‘Old’ Crome is reported just before his death as telling his son (John Berney Crome) : “John, my boy, paint! And if your subject is only a pigsty, dignify it!”

Return to the top ^

The Exhibition

To view the entire Exhibition, print-by-print, click this link and then follow the prints through the Gallery by using the "next print >" and "< previous print" navigation buttons. Alternatively, you can select an individual print from its thumbnail or title in the list below.

		JOHN CROME Back of the Mills Etching, 1810-12
		JOHN CROME Wagon Wheels at the Foot of a Tree Etching, 1811-12
		JOHN CROME Bixley Etching, 1811-12
		JOHN CROME Hoveton St Peter Etching, c1838
		JOHN CROME At Hackford Etching, 1812
		JOHN CROME Hall Moor Road, near Hingham Etching, 1812
		JOHN CROME Rustic Road with Thatched Barns Etching, 1812-13
		JOHN CROME Road Scene, Trowse Hall Etching, 1813
		JOHN CROME Back of the New Mills Etching, 1812
		JOHN CROME Road by a Blasted Oak> Etching, 1813
		JOHN CROME Sandy Road through Woodland Etching, 1813
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Manor House York Etching, c1811
		JOHN SELL COTMAN South Gate Yarmouth Etching, 1812
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Erpingham Gate, Norwich Cathedral Etching, 1817-18
		JOHN SELL COTMAN On the Yare, Norfolk Etching, 1810-17
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Caernarvon Castle Etching, 1817
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Near Durham Etching, c1813-17
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Ashtead Church Yard, Surrey Etching, 1810-17
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Sketch after Rembrandt Etching, 1810-17
		JOHN SELL COTMAN French Beggars Etching, 1810-17
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Harlech Castle Etching, 1810-17
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Brandsby Tower Etching, 1820
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Castle at Dieppe Etching, 1820
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Castle Gaillard Etching, 1821
		JOHN SELL COTMAN The Student Etching, 1820-40
		JOHN SELL COTMAN Fécamp Etching, c1820
		JOHN SELL COTMAN (A Figure in Oriental dress) and (A Moated Chateau) Etchings, c1834
		JOSEPH STANNARD On the Beach at Mundesley Etching, 1827
		HENRY NINHAM Bridge and Mill, Composition Issued, c1875
		HENRY NINHAM Recollections of the Bure Etching, c1830-40
		HENRY NINHAM Chateau in Normandy Etching, c1830-40
		EDWARD THOMAS DANIELL Flordon Bridge Etching, c1825
		EDWARD THOMAS DANIELL Landscape with Mill Etching, c1829
		EDWARD THOMAS DANIELL Lime Kiln Etching, c1829
		EDWARD THOMAS DANIELL Bridge at Toledo Etching, c1831
		EDWARD THOMAS DANIELL Ronda, Andalusia Etching, c1831-32
		EDWARD THOMAS DANIELL Ravine with rocky Scenery Etching, c1831-32
		EDWARD THOMAS DANIELL Castle Acre - Norfolk Etching, c1832-33
		EDWARD THOMAS DANIELL Whitlingham Lane by Trowse Etching, c1832-33
		THOMAS LOUND The Wensum – King Street, Norwich> Etching, c1832
		DAVID HODGSON Sandling Ferry Etching, c1838
		MILES EDMUND COTMAN Whitlingham, looking towards Norwich Etching, c1838
		MILES EDMUND COTMAN Postwick Grove Etching, c1830
		WILLIAM HOWES HUNT Yarmouth Denes Etching
		WILLIAM HOWES HUNT North Denes (Yarmouth) Etching
		JANE WORSHIP South East Tower, Great Yarmouth Etching, 1837-42
		CECILIA LUCY BRIGHTWELL View of Amsterdam from the North West Etching, 1835, after Rembrandt.
		CECILIA LUCY BRIGHTWELL Landscape with a Cottage and Haybarn Etching, 1835, after Rembrandt.
		CECILIA LUCY BRIGHTWELL The Windmill Etching, 1835, after Rembrandt.
		CECILIA LUCY BRIGHTWELL Cottages beside a Canal Etching, 1835, after Rembrandt.
		CECILIA LUCY BRIGHTWELL Study of a Bearded Manl Etching, after Rembrandt.
		CECILIA LUCY BRIGHTWELL Study of Man in Turban Etching, after Rembrandt.
		CECILIA LUCY BRIGHTWELL Canal scene with a Windmill Etching, after Rembrandt.
		JOHN MIDDLETON Gunton Park, Norfolk Etching, 1850-52
		JOHN MIDDLETON Felled Timber at Barningham, Norfolk Etching, 1850-52
		JOHN MIDDLETON Composition and Road & Trees Composition Etching, 1850-52
		Return to the top ^