Skip to main content
Want more images or videos?
Request additional images or videos from the seller
1 of 14

W.S. Cooper
W.S. Cooper, A Bay Hunter & Groom In A Landscape

1832

$4,154.80
£3,000
€3,528.68
CA$5,652.28
A$6,280.93
CHF 3,291.27
MX$77,024.38
NOK 41,978.27
SEK 39,491.61
DKK 26,336.55
Shipping
Retrieving quote...
The 1stDibs Promise:
Authenticity Guarantee,
Money-Back Guarantee,
24-Hour Cancellation

About the Item

This early 19th-century oil painting by English artist W.S. Cooper (act. 1832-1834) depicts a bay hunter and groom in a landscape with a hunt beyond. Once hanging in a proud English country home, this splendid piece from 1832 represents the earliest known work by this little-known artist. It’s set under a dense sky and within an undulant landscape, punctuated by a wattle fence. Equestrian paintings of this nature were popular with the landed gentry who sought to celebrate their treasured horses and hounds. The inclusion of a distant hunt is an indication of aristocratic pursuits. Provincial painters, such as W.S. Cooper, often worked solely for local landowners on various commissions and had no requirement to exhibit. As such, most of these are lost to time as very few records exist. Cooper’s best-known oil painting is a ‘View of the Barracks at Fredericton, New Brunswick’, which was painted in 1834 after a lithograph. It was sold via Christie’s in 2015. Signed/dated in the lower left and held in a later gilt frame. Provenance: Private collection, UK. Artist’s auction maximum: £12,500 for ‘View of the Barracks at Fredericton, New Brunswick (1834)’, Oil on canvas, Christie’s, The Winkworth Collection: A Treasure House of Canadiana in London, London, 1 April 2015 (lot 72).
  • Creator:
    W.S. Cooper (English)
  • Creation Year:
    1832
  • Dimensions:
    Height: 32.5 in (82.55 cm)Width: 40 in (101.6 cm)
  • Medium:
  • Movement & Style:
  • Period:
  • Condition:
    Cleaned. Canvas relined. Craquelure throughout. The paint layer is stable. Later stretcher. Frame in good condition with minor age-related wear.
  • Gallery Location:
    Cheltenham, GB
  • Reference Number:
    1stDibs: LU2328216460492

More From This Seller

View All
Thomas Sidney Cooper RA, Livestock In A Landscape With River Beyond
By Thomas Sidney Cooper
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This fine mid-19th-century oil painting by British artist Thomas Sidney Cooper RA (1803-1902) depicts two cows and a sheep in a landscape. Cooper was a distinguished painter of the n...
Category

1850s Victorian Animal Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

19th-Century Austrian School, Lady Riding A Grey Mare
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This charming mid-19th-century European watercolour depicts a young lady riding a grey mare before a view of Berg Perchtoldsdorf, Austria. During the 19th century, aristocratic wome...
Category

1860s Victorian Figurative Drawings and Watercolors

Materials

Gouache, Watercolor, Paper

William Traies (Attributed), Wooded River Landscape With Cascade & Figures
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This charming mid-19th-century oil painting attributed to English artist William Traies (1789-1872) depicts a picturesque river view with cascade, figures and cattle. Traies was an a...
Category

1840s Victorian Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Canvas

Mid-19th-Century English School, Rural Scene With Family, Cattle & Cottage
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This endlessly charming mid-19th-century English oil painting depicts a rural scene with a family, cattle, pond, and cottage. A mother and child pause to observe a drover, perhaps f...
Category

1830s Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Edward William Cooke RA, West-Country Cove With Cottages, Family & Donkeys
By Edward William Cooke
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This idyllic late 19th-century oil painting by English artist Edward William Cooke RA (1811-1880) depicts a west-country cove with two cottages, donkeys, figures, and fishing boats. Cooke was a highly renowned painter of marine scenes and landscapes who exhibited extensively at London’s Royal Academy. From our elevated vantage point, the view extends between two quaint cottages and across the beach before sweeping around the sandy coastline. Crystalline waters lap the shore, where moored craft rest. It’s an accomplished rendering of a challenging composition. It’s enhanced by trees, which essentially ‘frame’ the right side, while a wooded track provides interest on the left. Cooke was a keen admirer of the Dutch old masters, and the spirit of the Golden Age underpins this splendid work. In diaries, he recorded how he travelled by donkey to access elevated spots in the southwest, so it’s conceivable that he did so here. In his catalogue raisonné, it lists a work from the same year titled ‘Bay with Donkeys’. Born in Pentonville, London, Cooke was raised in the company of accomplished artists as both his father, George Cooke (1781-1834), and his uncle, William Bernard Cooke (1778-1855), were engravers. As such, they were associated with a circle of Victorian painters who aided Cooke’s early development. These included the highly regarded marine painter Clarkson Frederick Stanfield RA RBA (1793-1867), who provided frequent advice and inspiration. Indeed, as a teenager, Cooke produced numerous drawings after Stanfield’s works. A precocious talent, by the age of nine, he was already displaying an advanced understanding of engraving, particularly for ships, coupled with a natural, seemingly in-built skill as a draughtsman. Many of his early drawings depict pastoral landscapes after the masters, such as Nicolaes Berchem (1620-1683), Paulus Potter (1625-1654), and Karel Dujardin (1626-1678). In an extraordinary turn of events, in 1820, his advanced abilities led to his first commission when he provided botanical illustrations for John Loudon's 'Encyclopaedia of Plants’. These were followed by drawings published in the 'Botanical Cabinet...
Category

1870s Victorian Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Jacob Van Der Does II, Wooded River Landscape With Hunting Party & Village
Located in Cheltenham, GB
This extensive late 17th-century oil painting by Dutch artist Jacob van der Does II (1661-1699) depicts a river landscape with a hunting party, riverside buildings, various craft, a ...
Category

1680s Dutch School Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil, Wood Panel

You May Also Like

Victorian English Hunting Scene Horse & Riders in British Landscape Signed Oil
By Joseph Dixon Clark
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
"Broken Free!" by Joseph Dixon Clark (British, 1849 - 1944) signed oil on board, framed framed: 16 x 24 inches board: 10 x 18 inches Provenance: private collection, UK Condition: a ...
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian Animal Paintings

Materials

Oil

A groom with a saddled bay hunter and dogs in an extensive landscape
Located in Stoke, Hampshire
Thomas Stringer (1722-1790) A groom with a saddled bay hunter and dogs, in an extensive landscape Dated 1754 lower left Oil on canvas Unframed size 25 x 36 in Framed size 31 x 42 in ...
Category

18th Century Old Masters Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil

Antique English 19th century Horse, Hunter with terrier in a landscape.
By James Barenger
Located in Woodbury, CT
Barenger was born in Kentish Town, London, the son of James Barenger Snr., a metal chaser and artist who exhibited paintings of insects at the Society of Artists and Royal Academy, a...
Category

1830s Victorian Animal Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

Antique British Hunting Scene Oil Painting - Huntsman on Horseback in Landscape
Located in Cirencester, Gloucestershire
Artist/ School: E. S. England (British, active c. 1890-1910), signed lower corner. Title: The Huntsman and his horse. Medium: signed oil painting on canvas, unframed. canvas: ...
Category

Late 19th Century Victorian Landscape Paintings

Materials

Oil

A bay hunter in a landscape
By Charles Towne
Located in Stoke, Hampshire
Charles Towne (1763-1840) A bay hunter in a landscape signed and dated 'Charles Towne Pinxit 1816' lower left Oil on canvas Painting Size - 20 x 26 Framed Size - 25 x 31 in Provena...
Category

Early 19th Century Old Masters Landscape Paintings

Materials

Canvas, Oil

A groom leading a bay hunter in a landscape
Located in Stoke, Hampshire
James Lynwood Palmer (1868-1941) A groom leading a bay hunter in a landscape signed and dated 'Lynwood Palmer/ 1903' (lower left) Oil on canvas Painting size 20 x 24 in Framed size 2...
Category

20th Century Animal Paintings

Materials

Oil