Life on the Water: New paintings from the Colman Bequest

Life on the Water: New paintings from the Colman Bequest pays tribute to the generosity of the Colman family through the display of six splendid Norwich School paintings which have never been exhibited at Norwich Castle before. Ten paintings which were part of Russell James Colman's Bequest to Norwich Castle in 1946 were left in trust with Sir Timothy Colman and entered the collection following his passing in 2021. The paintings - by John Sell Cotman, Miles Edmund Cotman, John Berney Crome, Joseph Stannard, James Stark and George Vincent - feature boats or local bodies of water in memory of Sir Timothy, a lover of Norfolk and keen sailor who broke several sailing speed records.

In the nineteenth century Norfolk's coast and waterways were lively sites of work and leisure. Shipping played a major part in the county's economy, with boats providing the most efficient method of transport for people and cargo alike. Coastal towns such as Hunstanton, Cromer, Wells-next-the-Sea, Overstrand and Great Yarmouth were fashionable seaside resorts, while riverside locations such as Postwick Grove to the east of Norwich were popular destinations for day-trippers. Artists found a ready market for river and maritime subjects, capturing the different moods of sky and water, and many Norwich School artists were skilled sailors in their own right.

Image credit: Miles Edmund Cotman (1810-1858), A Dutch Galliot, undated, oil on panel, Russell James Colman Bequest 1946