Sir Arthur Stockdale Cope, (born 2 November 1857 – 5 July 1940) was a British

portraitist A portrait is a painting, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face is always predominant. In arts, a portrait may be represented as half body and even full body. If the subject in full body better re ...

Biography

Cope was born on 2 November 1857, in

South Kensington South Kensington is a district at the West End of Central London in the Royal Borough of Kensington and Chelsea. Historically it settled on part of the scattered Middlesex village of Brompton. Its name was supplanted with the advent of the ra ...

London London is the Capital city, capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of both England and the United Kingdom, with a population of in . London metropolitan area, Its wider metropolitan area is the largest in Wester ...

. His father was

Charles West Cope Charles West Cope (28 July 1811– 21 August 1890) was an English, Victorian era painter of genre and history scenes, and an etcher. He was responsible for painting several frescos in the House of Lords in London. Life and work Early lif ...

(1811–1890), a successful history and genre painter, his mother was Charlotte Cope, née Benning (d. 1868). He attended

Norwich Grammar School Norwich School (formally King Edward VI Grammar School, Norwich) is a Private schools in the United Kingdom, private selective day school in the cathedral close, close of Norwich Cathedral, Norwich. Among the List of the oldest schools in the ...

and

Wiesbaden Wiesbaden (; ) is the capital of the German state of Hesse, and the second-largest Hessian city after Frankfurt am Main. With around 283,000 inhabitants, it is List of cities in Germany by population, Germany's 24th-largest city. Wiesbaden form ...

, before training in art at Cary’s Art School and then moving to the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

school in 1874. He married Emily Beatrix Hawtayne on 6 September 1882, and the couple had two sons and a daughter. In 1927, Cope was appointed Knight Commander of the

Royal Victorian Order The Royal Victorian Order () is a dynastic order of knighthood established in 1896 by Queen Victoria. It recognises distinguished personal service to the monarch, members of the royal family, or to any viceroy or senior representative of the m ...

and in 1933 he became a senior

Royal Academician The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...

. He died on 5 July 1940 near

Launceston, Cornwall Launceston ( , ; rarely spelled Lanson as a local abbreviation; ) is a town, ancient borough, and civil parish in Cornwall, England, United Kingdom. It is west of the middle stage of the River Tamar, which constitutes almost the entire borde ...

Works

Cope's first exhibited a work at the Royal Academy at the age of 19, and went on to establish his own portrait practice, exhibiting 288 works at the Royal Academy and the Royal Society of Portrait Painters between 1876 and 1935. He combined this prolific output with a prestigious roll call of sitters, ranging from Kings

Edward VII Edward VII (Albert Edward; 9 November 1841 – 6 May 1910) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 22 January 1901 until Death and state funeral of Edward VII, his death in 1910. The second child ...

George V George V (George Frederick Ernest Albert; 3 June 1865 – 20 January 1936) was King of the United Kingdom and the British Dominions, and Emperor of India, from 6 May 1910 until Death and state funeral of George V, his death in 1936. George w ...

and

Edward VIII Edward VIII (Edward Albert Christian George Andrew Patrick David; 23 June 1894 – 28 May 1972), later known as the Duke of Windsor, was King of the United Kingdom and the Dominions of the British Empire, and Emperor of India, from 20 January ...

, to

Kaiser Wilhelm II Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor Albert; 27 January 18594 June 1941) was the last German Emperor and King of Prussia from 1888 until his abdication in 1918, which marked the end of the German Empire as well as the Hohenzollern dynasty ...

and the

Archbishop of Canterbury The archbishop of Canterbury is the senior bishop and a principal leader of the Church of England, the Primus inter pares, ceremonial head of the worldwide Anglican Communion and the bishop of the diocese of Canterbury. The first archbishop ...

. His clever use of fluid paint, striking colour and harsh artificial lighting are well seen in his portrait of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Richards in the

National Maritime Museum The National Maritime Museum (NMM) is a maritime museum in Greenwich, London. It is part of Royal Museums Greenwich, a network of museums in the Maritime Greenwich World Heritage Site. Like other publicly funded national museums in the Unit ...

, London (Greenwich Hospital Collection). His high-profile works and successful style won him many honours: in 1900 he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters; in 1910 he was elected Royal Academician; and in 1917 he was knighted. In addition to his busy painting practice, Cope established an art school in South Kensington and

Vanessa Bell Vanessa Bell (née Stephen; 30 May 1879 – 7 April 1961) was an English painter and interior designer, a member of the Bloomsbury Group and the sister of Virginia Woolf (née Stephen). Early life and education Vanessa Stephen was the eld ...

(1879–1961) was among his pupils.

References

External links

*
A. S. Cope online
(ArtCyclopedia) {{DEFAULTSORT:Cope, Arthur Stockdale 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters English portrait painters 1857 births 1940 deaths Royal Academicians Artists' Rifles soldiers Knights Commander of the Royal Victorian Order 19th-century English male artists Knights Bachelor 20th-century English male artists