Thomas Sidney Cooper R.A. 1803-1902

Thomas Sidney Cooper was so successful as a painter of herds and flocks in extensive landscapes that once he had established a reputation, his style changed little and he continued to paint the same subjects for the rest of his life, never tiring and rarely loosing his panache. Thus On the Cliffs, a relatively early work of 1867, is close in conception to Sheep and Cattle on the Coast (private collection) painted twenty-three years later and also pictures painted in the 1850s.

The striking landscape of On the Cliffs depicts the East Sussex coast with the Seven Sisters cliffs on the left emerging from the rain storm which is moving out to sea. Cooper painted many scenes in the South East of England and is particularly connected to the area around Canterbury where several of his most important works were painted.

On the Cliffs was not listed in Stephan Sartin’s 1976 catalogue of Cooper’s work or Cooper's own memoir published in 1891, despite being an impressive and major work by the artist. Cooper was elected a full member of the Royal Academy in 1867, the year of this picture and in Sartin’s words ‘realised a lifetime’s ambition’ (Stephan Sartin, Thomas Sidney Cooper, C.V.O., R.A. 1893-1902, pg. 40). This was five years before he began work upon his most famous work The Monarch of the Meadows.

Cooper’s reputation should not be regarded too lightly, as Sartin explained ‘Thomas Sidney Cooper was one of the most highly regarded of 19th century British artists. For an astonishing seventy years he was a regular contributor to the Royal Academy Exhibition. His reputation was so great that no private collection could be considered complete without having one of his paintings..’ (ibid, Sartin, pg.11).