Postwich Grove, Norfolk

John Sell Cotman (after)

Summary

One of the most prominent features in this riverside landscape is the dense group of trees in the centre of the middle ground. The majority of the trees are thickly leaved and cast dark shadows to their right; only one of the trees on the right edge of the group has no leaves and seems to be dying. Beyond the trees little of the sky can be seen and the rest of the landscape is quite faint in the distance with a windmill just visible on the horizon on the right-hand side. It is in front of the trees, in the foreground, that there is most detail as the river runs across the foreground receding into the distance on the left-hand side. In the right hand corner there are some wooden fences by the river edge and a path leads down to them. There is also a piece of driftwood resting against the fence and the shallow water by it has rushes growing in it. Just beyond this, below the trees there are two men trying to pull something away from the bank where there are two other men sitting in a clearing by the trees. Following the bank of the river further in to the left there is a boat tethered to the shore with a shadowed pathway leading down to it. Along the bottom of the print in italicised writing is the title ‘Postwich Grove, Norfolk’ and the name ‘J S Cotman’.