Norwich School Painting. The Norwich School of painters, founded in 1803 in Norwich, was the first provincial art movement in Britain.
   Artists of the school were inspired by the natural environment of the Norfolk landscape and owed some influence to the work of landscape painters of the Dutch Golden Age such as Hobbema and Ruisdael. The Norwich Society of Artists was founded in 1803 by John Crome and Robert Ladbrooke as a club where artists could meet to exchange ideas.
   Its aims were 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 the greater perfection in these arts. The society's first meeting was in The Hole in the Wall tavern; two years later it moved to premises which allowed it to offer members work and exhibition space.
   Its first exhibition opened in 1805, and was such a success that it became an annual event until 1825. The building was demolished but the society re-opened three years later, in 1828, as The Norfolk and Suffolk Institution for the Promotion of the Fine Arts at a different venue and exhibitions continued until 1833.
   The leading light of the movement was John Crome who attracted many friends and pupils until his death in 1821. The mantle of leadership then fell on John Sell Cotman, a member of the society since 1807, who continued to keep the society together until he left N
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