Susanna Roope Dockery
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Susanna Roope Dockery (1856-1927) was an English watercolour painter who lived both in England and in the city of
Porto Porto or Oporto () is the second-largest city in Portugal, the capital of the Porto District, and one of the Iberian Peninsula's major urban areas. Porto city proper, which is the entire municipality of Porto, is small compared to its metropol ...
in
Portugal Portugal, officially the Portuguese Republic ( pt, República Portuguesa, links=yes ), is a country whose mainland is located on the Iberian Peninsula of Southwestern Europe, and whose territory also includes the Atlantic archipelagos of ...
. She mainly painted scenes of rural life in Portugal.


Background

Susanna Roope Dockery was born in Porto, the daughter of Cabel Roope, whose family came from Dartmouth in England and Elizabeth Whitaker. He was a partner in Hunt, Roope, Teage and Co., of Porto (or “Oporto” as it was then widely known by the English), which was an important company that both imported salted codfish from
Newfoundland Newfoundland and Labrador (; french: Terre-Neuve-et-Labrador; frequently abbreviated as NL) is the easternmost province of Canada, in the country's Atlantic region. The province comprises the island of Newfoundland and the continental region ...
and exported wines to the United Kingdom and elsewhere. While marriage between the English families of Porto was common, Roope chose to marry Alfred Victor Dockery, the United States Consul in Porto between 1873 and 1876. He was transferred to
Leeds Leeds () is a city and the administrative centre of the City of Leeds district in West Yorkshire, England. It is built around the River Aire and is in the eastern foothills of the Pennines. It is also the third-largest settlement (by populati ...
, England, where the couple lived after their marriage in 1878. They had three children. Dockery, who was born in 1851 in
North Carolina North Carolina () is a state in the Southeastern region of the United States. The state is the 28th largest and 9th-most populous of the United States. It is bordered by Virginia to the north, the Atlantic Ocean to the east, Georgia and So ...
, came from a prominent family of politicians and plantation owners. He owed his diplomatic career after the
American Civil War The American Civil War (April 12, 1861 – May 26, 1865; also known by other names) was a civil war in the United States. It was fought between the Union ("the North") and the Confederacy ("the South"), the latter formed by states th ...
to the family's support of the Republican Party, the party of
Abraham Lincoln Abraham Lincoln ( ; February 12, 1809 – April 15, 1865) was an American lawyer, politician, and statesman who served as the 16th president of the United States from 1861 until his assassination in 1865. Lincoln led the nation thro ...
, but when the Democrats took over the presidency in 1885 he was forced to return to the USA. He took his family with him, but they returned after six years. Apparently lacking financial support from her husband, Susanna Roope Dockery became for a time dependent on her extended family and friends. She took up watercolour painting as a profession. Her paintings were of the Porto area and she also took a small cottage at Afife to the north of Porto in what is now the municipality of
Viana do Castelo Viana do Castelo () is a municipality and seat of the district of Viana do Castelo in the Norte Region of Portugal. The population in 2011 was 88,725, in an area of 319.02 km². The urbanized area of the municipality, comprising the city, ...
. Many of her works feature the stone buildings and structures of that area and she also painted scenes of rustic life, of fishing boats, and of the grape harvest. Initially she sold her paintings to British people in Porto and some are still to be found in the houses of Anglo-Portuguese families. The favourable reception of her work encouraged her to seek a wider audience and in February 1897 she exhibited "76 Watercolour drawings of North Portugal" at a gallery in London's
Mayfair Mayfair is an affluent area in the West End of London towards the eastern edge of Hyde Park, in the City of Westminster, between Oxford Street, Regent Street, Piccadilly and Park Lane. It is one of the most expensive districts in the world. ...
. In 1899 her watercolours of Costumes of Minho and Douro were exhibited in Lisbon and two of the paintings were purchased by the
Queen of Portugal This is a list of Portuguese monarchs who ruled from the establishment of the Kingdom of Portugal, in 1139, to the deposition of the Portuguese monarchy and creation of the Portuguese Republic with the 5 October 1910 revolution. Through the nea ...
. In 1901 she exhibited a painting at the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
and she continued to exhibit at commercial galleries in London. Although it is not known for certain, the development of Dockery's painting skills may have been as the result of her visits to her mother's house in
Witley Witley is a village and civil parish in the Borough of Waverley in Surrey, England centred south west of the town of Godalming and southwest of Guildford. The land is a mixture of rural (ranging from woodland protected by the Surrey Hills AO ...
in the Surrey Hills to the southwest of London. This village was home to artists such as
Myles Birket Foster Myles Birket Foster (4 February 1825 – 27 March 1899) was a British illustrator, watercolourist and engraver in the Victorian period. His name is also to be found as Myles Birkett Foster. Life and work Foster was born in North Shiel ...
and
Helen Allingham Helen Allingham (née Paterson; 26 September 1848 – 28 September 1926) was a British watercolourist and illustrator of the Victorian era. Biography Helen Mary Elizabeth Paterson was born on 26 September 1848, at Swadlincote in Derbyshire, ...
. It is also known that she received some tuition from the Irish artist, Claude Hayes. In 1909, 21 of her painting were chosen to illustrate a book by W.H. Koebel, entitled ''Portugal, Its Land and People''. The book was reprinted as a reproduction in 2010. An exhibition of her paintings was held in London, timed to coincide with the original publication of the book. From 1911, Roope Dockery experienced a series of tragedies. In that year both her brothers died and in the following year her elder son succumbed to tuberculosis. Her younger son, who had emigrated to Africa to be a farmer, died in mysterious circumstances a decade later. She received emotional support from friends and from her daughter's family. She died in September 1927 in Porto and is buried in the churchyard of
St James' Church, Porto St James' Church is an English-speaking Anglican church in Porto (also known as Oporto), Portugal, and is within the Diocese in Europe. It is surrounded by a churchyard, and its history is closely tied with the British merchants of that city. ...
. Together with her sisters, Ellen and Mary, she is commemorated in a stained glass window in the church.


References


External links


A large collection of Susanna Roope Dockery’s paintings
{{DEFAULTSORT:Dockery, Susanna Roope 1856 births Artists from Porto 1927 deaths 19th-century English painters 19th-century British women artists 20th-century English painters 20th-century British women artists English women painters 20th-century English women 19th-century English women