Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902)
Biography of the artist Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902)
Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902) was an English painter noted for his fine detailed images of cattle and sheep in extensive pastoral landscapes.
Cooper was born at Canterbury in Kent in 1803 and from a small child showed strong artistic inclinations. At the age of twelve, he was working in the shop of a coach painter and later on in his youth he worked as a scene painter.
Cooper left for London and drew extensively in the British Museum, then entering the Royal Academy Schools.
Cooper returned to Canterbury and took up teaching as a drawing master. In 1827, he settled in Brussels and married. It was here that Cooper met the celebrated animal painter Eugene Joseph Verboeckhoven who had a large influence on his work.
He left Brussels at the start of the revolution returning to London and exhibited his first painting at the Royal Academy in 1833. He went on to paint numerous works, largely on the same theme - his 266 Royal Academy exhibits shown without a break until his death in 1902.
After about 1870, Cooper's commissions were constant and very lucrative making him a wealthy man and in consequence a generous benefactor to the city of Canterbury.
Between 1847 and 1870, Cooper collaborated on a number of works with the landscape painter Frederick Richard Lee RA, Cooper adding animals to complete the scene. His studio sale at Christie's lasted three days!
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Thomas Sidney Cooper (1803-1902)
Related Lots
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Thomas Sidney Cooper R A.[1803-1902] - Recumbent ewes and standing ram in a meadow landscape, cattle grazing in the distance - signed T Sidney Cooper RA and dated 1890 bottom right oil on panel 30.5 x 355cm.
Estimate: £2,000 - £3,000
Realised: £3,000
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Thomas Sidney Cooper [1803-1902] - An extensive landscape with a cow and two sheep in the foreground, a distant meadow and town beyond - signed T Sidney Cooper and dated 1852, bottom right, also inscribed on reverse of panel in artists hand, 'painted for and presented to (my friend) Henry Cooper Esq., ALD'n June 18th 1852. Thos. Sidney Cooper R A.' oil on panel 35.5 x 45.5cm.
Estimate: £1,000 - £1,500
Realised: £5,500
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