Thomas Sidney Cooper, RA

(British, 1803-1902)

Saint Augustine's, Canterbury, in 1883

Footnotes

Provenance
John Derby Allcroft (1882-1893) of 108 Lancaster Gate, London and Stokesay Court, Shropshire; purchased from the artist and thence by descent.
Sale, Sotheby's, Stokesay Court, Shropshire, 29 September 1994, lot 546.
Private collection, Ireland (acquired from the above sale).

Exhibited
London, Royal Academy, 1886, no. 223.

Literature
Kentish Gazette, 30 March 1886.
Art Journal, 1886, p. 221.
T. Sidney Cooper, My Life, 1891, vol. 2, pp. 218-221, 333-335, 401.
F. Leach, Country Seats of Shropshire, 1891, p. 244.
Kenneth Westwood, Thomas Sidney Cooper, His Life and Work, David Leathers, 2011, no. O.1886.3, plate no. 302, vol. 1, pp.253-253 (illustrated in colour), vol. 2, p. 436.

Engraved
Typogravure published by Bownsed & Valedon (illustrated in Brian Stewart, Thomas Sidney Cooper of Canterbury, Meresborough, 1983, p. 45).

The buildings and environs of Canterbury, Cooper's native city, were one of his favourite subjects appearing in many different compositions, however this monumental view of St. Augustine's Abbey can certainly be lauded as one of his grandest and most successful depictions of the ancient city. Founded by St. Augustine in A.D. 598, the Abbey had once rivalled the Cathedral in size however the dissolution of the monastery saw the Abbey reduced almost to ruins. Parts of the Abbey were rebuilt as Royal Palaces and the site enjoyed some royal patronage between 1541-1564 however it soon lost favour and was subsequently let to nobles and gentry. One of the few surviving portions of the early building is the great fourteenth century Fyndon Gate which Cooper depicts here. In fact the Abbey seems to have held a special significance for Cooper and was a subject he revisited throughout his long life, when commenting on the presented work he writes: 'it was very successfully received [at the Royal Academy] many of the Academicians being much pleased with it, and congratulating me on having the eyes and hand to paint so difficult a subject, as all the minutiae of the beautiful Gothic architecture required most careful and delicate manipulation. I had, however, made many sketches of the old monastery even in my boyhood, and the one from which I painted this picture I had taken as far back as the year 1833 ... I had always been most anxious to paint a picture of St Augustine's as I knew it in my younger days, having always had an intense admiration for this beautiful ancient bit of architecture, and it was a matter of great gratification to me when I was at last able to accomplish my desire, the more so that when finished I was satisfied with my work; for I consider it one of my best pictures ... I inserted [the] quotation in allusion to the base use to which the ancient monastery has been applied, for it is now, I regret to say a brewery, and I was very thankful to have secured a sketch of it before it was so desecrated.'¹

Indeed the painting was considered a triumph not only by Cooper himself but also by the critics when it was exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1886. The Art Journal noted that 'No one should pass no. 223 ... without a well-deserved tribute of admiration to the steady hand and undimmed eye of its veteran author, who at eighty-five can draw with an accuracy which might put many a younger man to shame'² and the Kentish Gazette lavishes praise on the work stating it 'may be fairly styled on of Mr Cooper's finest productions. It is not only of great intrinsic value but of considerable historic interest ... This picture has been pronounced by some competent judges to be perhaps the most interesting and valuable one ever painted by Mr Cooper.'³ Such praise from both artist and critic alike re-affirm this as one of Cooper's finest achievements and is evidence that the characteristic precision and clarity with which his animals are so often rendered, could be transposed across a monumental composition and through different subject matters.

Having only appeared on the market once, this being at the sale of the contents of Stokesay Court in 1994, the history of the painting can easily be traced back to it's original purchase from the artist. This was the last of many important paintings bought from the artist by John Derby Allcroft, who had established himself as the artist's major patron in the second half of the century. There is evidence to suggest that Allcroft invited Cooper to his country residence in August, following the purchase of the present work in London; while there, Cooper made a sketch of Stokesay Court, and also presented Allcroft with a small oil painting.⁴(see Westwood D.1886.16, fog. 170 and O.1886.10).

¹ T. Sidney Cooper, My Life, 1891, vol. 2, pp. 218-221.
² Art Journal, 1886, p. 221.
³ Kentish Gazette, 30 March 1886.
⁴ Westwood, vol. 2, p. 436.