FDA-D.141-2010
Parts
Object number
FDA-D.141-2010
Object type
Identification
Title
A Mountain Valley in Italy
Pilkington
Pilkington
Title Type
assigned by cataloguer
collection
collection
Comments
Born in Edinburgh, Cooper first studied engraving with his father, then in Paris, with Jacques-Philippe LeBas. During the 1770s he travelled in Italy, but had returned to England by 1778, when he began to exhibit at the Royal Academy. In the following decade, he worked as a drawing master at Eton, and also gave lessons to the younger royal children at Windsor. The two large views of Windsor Castle he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1788, one taken from the playing fields of Eton, were probably shown, in part, to advertise this connection. This view of an Alpine valley shows Cooper at his most expressive in its varied textures and powerful uses of rich brown ink, the tone he preferred for his aquatints of views in Italy published in 1783. With its group of travellers in the right foreground, apparently stranded by the rushing mountain stream, this is more romantic in sentiment than much of his work, and perhaps dates from the later period of his career after his second trip to Italy in 1801.
Other number
Pi 47
Description
Dimensions
height (actual size): 266mm
width (actual size): 362mm
width (actual size): 362mm
Materials & techniques note
Pencil, brown wash
Production
Person
Cooper, Richard, 1740 - 1814 (Artist)
Date
Late 18th - early 19th century
History and association
Object history note
Provenance: Collection of Alan Pilkington; by whom presented/bequeathed to Eton College
Exhibited: 'Treasures of Eton College Library', Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1990, (catalogue number 224); 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie’s, London, 6 January to 24 January 2003, (catalogue number 5)
Exhibited: 'Treasures of Eton College Library', Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1990, (catalogue number 224); 'A Genius for Watercolour', Christie’s, London, 6 January to 24 January 2003, (catalogue number 5)
References
• Quarrie, P., Treasures of Eton College Library: 550 years of collecting, exhibition catalogue, Pierpont Morgan Library, New York, 1990 (p. 113), Catalogue number: 224
• Wilcox, T., A Genius for Watercolour; Watercolours from the Eton College Collection, Christie's exhibition catalogue, London, 2003 (p. 12), Catalogue number: 5
• Wilcox, T., A Genius for Watercolour; Watercolours from the Eton College Collection, Christie's exhibition catalogue, London, 2003 (p. 12), Catalogue number: 5
