COTMAN, JOHN SELL (1782-1842), English landscape painter and etcher, son of a well-to-do silk mercer, was born at Norwich, on May 16, '782. He was sent to London to study art, where he became the friend of Turner, T. Girtin and other artists. He became president of the Norwich Society of Artists in 181i. In 1834 he was appointed drawing-master at King's college, Lon don. He died in London on July 24, 1842. Cotman's work was not considered of much importance in his own day, and his pic tures only procured small prices; but he now ranks as one of the great figures of the Norwich school. His sons, Miles Edmund (1810-58) and Joseph John (1814-78), were landscape-painters of merit; and his younger brother Henry's son, Frederic George Cotman (b. 185o), was a water-colour artist.
See G. A. Stephen, Norfolk Artists 09'5) ; H. M. Cundall, The Norwich School (192o).