The artist was born in Canterbury and became one of the foremost animal and landscape painters of the Victorian period. Many of his paintings are held today in prestigious galleries.
During his long life he exhibited at the Royal Academy for 57 consecutive years. He was one of the first artists to use photography as an aid to creating compositions for his paintings. As early as 1851 he belonged to a photographic group, the Calotype Club, of which his friend, Richard Ansdell, was also a member.
Having studied in Brussels he was greatly influenced by Belgian artist, Eugene Joseph Verboekhoven. We have his painting Cattle and Sheep in a Landscape in our Collection.
Cooper was a philanthropist. Having come from poor beginnings he used some of his wealth to establish the Sidney Cooper Gallery and Art School in Canterbury where free tuition was provided for impoverished students wishing to study art. He, himself, would teach these boys and girls.
This oil on canvas Canterbury Meadows 1856, a favourite subject, was the bequest of Amy Beresford 1888-1972.