A to Z of artists Cooper RA, Abraham 1787 - 1868

This animal and battle painter was born on 8 September 1787 at Red Lion Street, Holborn, London. His father was a tobacconist and later became an innkeeper, but with little financial success. Attending a local school, Cooper showed an early aptitude for drawing, especially horses and dogs. At the age of thirteen he went to work for his uncle, William Davis, who was manager of Astley’s Circus; a circus famous for its spectacular equestrian dramas, providing the boy with the opportunity to study horses at first hand. In about 1809, wishing to have a portrait of a horse which he had often ridden, he bought a small book on oil-painting and set about the task himself. William Davis knew the celebrated horse-painter Ben Marshall (q.v.). Marshall, appreciating Cooper’s talent, addiction to hard work and personal charm, freely gave him studio space, encouragement, instruction, and introduced him to prospective patrons. In later life, Cooper was himself to become the kindly tutor of many aspiring young sporting painters. He also studied and copied illustrations in The Sporting Magazine and became a contributor in 1811 with a portrait of a pointer, Basto, described as a very staunch young dog. During his lifetime Cooper provided 189 subjects which were engraved in the magazine. He first exhibited at both the Royal Academy and British Institution in 1812. Initially his subjects were horses, dogs and some wild animals, but from 1815 he started showing meticulously researched battle paintings, often of the Civil War, usually including mounted soldiers. He was elected an Associate in 1817, and it was said that his painting, The Battle of Marston Moor, shown in 1820 led to his election as an Academician that year. Between 1812 and 1868/9, he exhibited 332 pictures at the Academy and seventy-three at the British Institution. In 1836 a slightly plaintive correspondent of The Art Journal wrote: "Between the years 1828 and 1831 the artist seems to have been so much occupied with painting portraits of famous racers, hunters, and roadsters, as to leave no time for pictures of a more important character." He painted Arab horses, coursing and shooting scenes, but the hunting field only on rare occasions. Living his whole life in London, Cooper died at his home, Woodbine Cottage, Woodlands, Greenwich on 24 December 1868. His obituary in The Sporting Magazine remembers him as "a guileless pleasant gentleman with little jealousy in his nature."