'Ouse Bridge, York.', pencil and sepia wash by John Sell Cotman, Great Britain, 1803.

Pencil and sepia wash depicting the Ouse Bridge, over the River Ouse in York. The in the foreground of the picture are rowing boats on the river, with men climbing into them. The bridge has three arches, one large in the middle, and two smaller at each side, It also has railings along the top. It is lettered with the titlle, and it is signed and dated.

Bequeathed by Edith, Lady Powell

P S Munn and Cotman were together in York in the first week of July 1803. There is a pencil drawing in the British Museum by P S Munn, 'Ouse Bridge, York, July 6, 1803'. The V&A Museum has a pencil sketch of a more distant view 'No 2 Ouse Bridge, July 5, 1803' by J S Cotman. In the diary kept by Mrs Cholmley of Brandsby Hall, near York, is the entry: "July 7, 1803. Mr Munn and Mr Cotman came". This beautiful drawing was probably done in London after Cotman's return from Yorkshire from a pencil drawing made on the spot (communicated by Mr S L Kitson). The drawing was inherited by the testatrix from her mother, Mrs Rosetta d'Arblay Wood, who inherited it from her father, Archdeacon Charles Parr Burney.

E.3795-1934