"Tunford Farm"--a subject which Mr. Cooper has painted twice--created
a great impression. There was no cattle painter then, and as Wilkie
once remarked--and whenever Wilkie used to dine at Mr. Vernon's he
would go up and look at the picture--"That's the man to fill the gap."
The picture was very nearly turned out. It was chosen, but had got put
aside. The gallery was already hung, and one of the Hanging Committee,
Mr. Jones, R.A., positively had his own picture taken down and "Tunford
Farm" put up in its place. This alone should tell of the excellence of
the work. From that eventful day in '34 Mr. Cooper has gone on year by
year substantiating his claim to be regarded as the finest painter of
cattle this century has seen. It would be impossible to give a complete
catalogue of his many works, his studies of cattle are countless. One
or two examples of his genius are reproduced here--namely, "The Flock
Master's Hope," "A Farm in East Kent," "Tunford Farm" (the second
painting of the picture which realized so much for him), "The Brook in
the Meadows," and the original sketch for "The Monarch of the Meadows,"
which was so mysteriously stolen in September, 1881. No artist has had
his pictures more "counterfeited" than Mr. Cooper. He was so frequently
asked to say if a picture was his or not, that at last he was obliged
to charge a fee. According to Mr. Cooper's certificate book, during the
last few years he has had 241 so-called Cooper works submitted to him,
219 out of which proved to be only copies!
[Illustration: THE SIDNEY COOPER SCHOOL OF ART AND BIRTHPLACE.
_From a Photo. by Elliot & Fry_.]
I have referred in the early part of this paper to the great love Mr.
Cooper had for his mother. When I said "Good-bye" to him it was with
a promise--very happily and readily made--to stay for a moment at a
certain spot in St. Peter's Street, Canterbury. There stands the Sidney
Cooper School of Art--a school Mr. Cooper founded in 1870, giving
gratuitous instruction to the students, and subsequently presented to
the City of Canterbury in 1882.
"I wanted the youth of Canterbury to have the shorthand of drawing--I
had to find it out myself," Mr. Cooper told me.
But there was another reason. At the banquet given in honour of the
Royal Academician at his birthplace in October, 1870, Mr. Cooper rose
and said:--
"I had but one object--nay, I had two objects--in erecting that Gallery
of Art which I have devoted to the inhabitants of my native city and
its neighbourhood. The one was to dedicate it to her who fostered me
in my years of infancy and youth"--and at the recollection of his
mother, the great painter was so overcome that he could not for some
time proceed with his remarks--"and I determined to erect it on the
very site of my birthplace; and the other object was that the youth of
Canterbury who feel a desire for the study of art may avail themselves
of those opportunities which were denied to me."
Half an hour after I left Sidney Cooper I was watching the students
at work and carrying out the wishes of the thoughtful founder of this
excellent institution. But, I must confess to staying longer outside
than I did inside. Next door to the school is a quaint old gabled
house, striking in all its picturesqueness, and even a stranger would
not pass it by without turning to look at it. How much more interesting
it becomes when you know that the old-fashioned latticed window on the
first floor opens into the room where a certain little fellow first saw
the light ninety years ago, and that on the very stone step which leads
to the door that same little fellow, a few years later, used to sit
with his slate and pencil. Thomas Sidney Cooper, R.A., told me so; and
he, above all others, ought to know.