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Draft:Frederic Charles Cooper

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  • Comment: Possibly notable but needs sources to prove it. Where did you get the info in the Biography section? ~Liancetalk 22:00, 12 June 2024 (UTC)


Frederick Charles Cooper (1817 - 1883)[1], or (1810 - 1880)[2], or (1821 - about 1880)[3], was a British artist, traveller and diplomat who accompanied Austen Henry Layard (q.v.) on his expedition to Assyria in 1849-1850, and from which trip he executed a number of watercolour drawings of the excavations and local topography in northern Iraq and north-east Syria.[4]

He was also Consul to Queen Victoria in Mesopotamia and Kurdistan (1850-1855)[5].

Biography

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Cooper was born in Nottingham[6] however he relocated to London where he hoped to establish himself as an artist. In 1844 he was living at 37 Dorset Square in London when his work titled "Ophelia: therewith fantastic garlands did she make" was first exhibited at the Royal Academy annual show[7].

He became recognized after he joined Austen Henry Layard (archeologist, politician and diplomat) on a significant expedition in 1849 as the official artist. Layard writes in his 1853 text Discoveries among the ruins of Nineveh and Babylon  ‘the assistance of a competent artist was most desirable, to portray with fidelity those monuments which injury and decay had rendered unfit for removal. Mr. F. Cooper was selected by the Trustees of the British Museum to accompany the expedition in this capacity’.

Sources claim an uneasy relationship between Cooper and Layard, and personal dislike that Layard had for Cooper: "From the start, it was clear that Layard was fairly contemptuous of Cooper and had little time for him. Cooper was very homesick, missed his wife, and even painted a portrait of her from memory which he took out from to time to gaze at. He didn’t like the food, and suffered from the climate as it started to get hotter".[3]

The expedition resulted in the excavation of Nineveh, the ancient Assyrian city of Upper Mesopotamia. Layard had first seen the mounds of Nineveh when he and his travelling companion Edward Mitford passed through Mosul in early 1840. He explored the ruins in 1847 however two years later, on the eastern shores of the river Tigris opposite Mosul, the lost palace of Sennacherib was discovered. Cooper produced important watercolour works and drawings of the excavation and local topography in Northern Iraq and north-east Syria. Many of the original drawings are in the collection of the British Museum, including a work depicting two lions at the entrance to the shrine of Ninurta, Nimrud; a drawing showing an enormous human-headed Assyrian winged gateway figure being lowered by ropes onto a wooden trolley; and a watercolour version inscribed Arabs engaged in excavation.

Austen Henry Layard published detailed reports of the excavations and in depth recollections from his travels in his book Nineveh and its Remains in 1849. The book was a best-seller in Victorian England, aided by the close links Layard made between Nineveh and the Bible. He then published Discoveries in the Ruins of Nineveh and Babylon four years later. In 1851, Cooper compiled a group of thirty seven paintings from the expedition which were exhibited as a diorama of Nineveh at the Gothic Hall, Lower Grosvenor Street in London.

The art historian H.L. Mallalieu has written in his Dictionary of British Watercolour Artists up to 1920: «Cooper’s landscapes are effective, but his figures can be rather shaky»[1].

In 1852, after he returned to London, he exhibited at the Royal Academy a painting entitled Scene from the excavations of Nineveh, taken from a sketch made on the spot. In 1860 he exhibited at the Royal Academy a work "The plains of Nineveh from the Tanner’s Ferry near Mosul", also from the sketches taken by the artist on the spot. In 1868, he exhibited for the last time at the Royal Academy, with a work entitled The Souvenir.[3]

Frederick Charles Cooper died presumably in 1880.

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  • The maiden and the alchemist (c.1860). Oil on canvas 86.8 x 110.5cm (34 3/16 x 43 1/2in). Private collection.
    The maiden and the alchemist (c.1860). Oil on canvas 86.8 x 110.5cm (34 3/16 x 43 1/2in). Private collection.
  • A woman lounging with a hookah (c. 1860s). Oil on canvas 16 1/4 in x 20 1/4 in. Private collection
    A woman lounging with a hookah (c. 1860s). Oil on canvas 16 1/4 in x 20 1/4 in. Private collection
  • Excavation of the City of Nineveh (c. 1852). Oil on canvas. Unframed: 91.5 by 71.5cm,. 36 by 28in. Framed: 125 by 106cm., 49¼ by 41¾in. Private collection.
    Excavation of the City of Nineveh (c. 1852). Oil on canvas. Unframed: 91.5 by 71.5cm,. 36 by 28in. Framed: 125 by 106cm., 49¼ by 41¾in. Private collection.
  • From a bound set of original drawings made at the time of the nineteenth-century discoveries in Assyria. Many of these drawings were used by Layard in his publications of the 1840s and 1850s. British Museum.
    From a bound set of original drawings made at the time of the nineteenth-century discoveries in Assyria. Many of these drawings were used by Layard in his publications of the 1840s and 1850s. British Museum.

References

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  1. ^ "Frederick Charles Cooper | Artist | Royal Academy of Arts". www.royalacademy.org.uk. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  2. ^ "Excavation of the City of Nineveh | The Orientalist Sale including Works from the Najd Collection | 2021". Sotheby's. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  3. ^ a b c Istituto Veneto di Scienze, Lettere ed Arti (VENICE 2020). "RETHINKING LAYARD 1817-2017. Edited by STEFANIA ERMIDORO and CECILIA RIVA in collaboration with LUCIO MILANO" (PDF). {{cite web}}: Check date values in: |date= (help)
  4. ^ "Collections Online | British Museum". www.britishmuseum.org. Retrieved 2024-06-12.
  5. ^ "Frederick Charles Cooper, KURDISH TENTS OF SHINGAL (Sinjar)". www.saradistribution.com. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  6. ^ "ULAN Full Record Display (Getty Research)". www.getty.edu. Retrieved 2024-09-16.
  7. ^ Graves, A (1904). The Royal Academy of Arts: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors and their Work from Its Foundation to 1904 (1st ed.). London: London (published 1905). p. 146. ISBN NO. {{cite book}}: Check |isbn= value: invalid character (help); Check date values in: |year= / |date= mismatch (help)
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