THOMAS SIDNEY COOPER

Provenienz: - Auktion Christie’s, New York, 23. 2. 1989, Los 451. - Deutscher Privatbesitz. Dieses äusserst frühe und qualitästvolle Gemälde von Thomas Sidney Cooper wird in den von Kenneth J. Westwood in Kürze erscheinenden zweiten Band zu Thomas Sidney Cooper C.V. O., R.A., His Life and Work, unter der Katalognummer O.1832.3 publiziert und wie folgt erwähnt werden: "In the foreground, a bull, five cows, three sheep and a donkey, seen grazing by an old tree in the Whitehall meadows to the south of Canterbury. The meadow is bordered to the right by trees and bushes and a tributary of the River Stour is seen to the left, with cattle in the middle distance by a footbridge. The Cathedral is viewed in the distance and clearly shows Lanfranc’s original Romanesque north-west tower, which was demolished around the time of the date of this painting, to be replaced with a tower in the Gothic style to match that at the north-east corner. The new tower was completed by 1834. When Cooper returned from Brussels he noted ‘many changes in Canterbury…objects of bygone days of great interest had been destroyed.’ Work on George Austin’s new tower was just beginning and he therefore ‘took as many sketches as [he] possibly could of the old place before any further changes should come upon it’ (My Life, 1890, vol.2, p.219). A fine example of the early paintings by Cooper that were well received by critics, fine art dealers and collectors alike, establishing his reputation so soon after he returned from Brussels determined to act on Verboeckhoven’s suggestion of concentrating on cattle subjects. Wir danken Kenneth J. Westwood für die Bestätigung der Eigenhändigkeit anhand einer Fotografie und für die wissenschaftliche Unterstützung bei diesem Katalogeintrag.