Daniel Coppin (1771–1822) was an accomplished amateur English painter of landscapes and a collector of art. He was one of the founding members of the

Norwich School of painters The Norwich School of painters was the first provincial art movement established in Britain, active in the early 19th century. Artists of the school were inspired by the natural environment of the Norfolk landscape and owed some influence to the wo ...

, and one of three generations of artists from the same family, which included his daughter Emily Stannard.

Life and family

Little of Daniel Coppin's life has been documented and almost nothing is known of his childhood. He was born in 1771 and was the husband of Elizabeth Coppin (born Elizabeth Clyatt), whom he married at St. Giles' Church,

Norwich Norwich () is a cathedral city and district of Norfolk, England, of which it is the county town. Norwich is by the River Wensum, about north-east of London, north of Ipswich and east of Peterborough. As the seat of the See of Norwich, with ...

on 2 November 1796. Coppin erected a memorial to his wife in St. Stephen's Church, Norwich, that contains biographical details of her life. Elizabeth Coppin was an accomplished artist who received accolades from the Norwich Society of Artists for her work. He was the father of the painter Emily Coppin (Mrs Joseph Stannard), who was trained as a

still life A still life (plural: still lifes) is a work of art depicting mostly wikt:inanimate, inanimate subject matter, typically commonplace objects which are either natural (food, flowers, dead animals, plants, rocks, shells, etc.) or artificiality, m ...

artist by both her parents. He was the grandfather of Emily Stannard, who was a minor Norwich artist.

Career

In 1786 Coppin moved to Rampant Horse Street in Norwich to be near to the family's ornamental painting business. Coppin was one of several artists who were responsible for the creation of the transparencies for the Norwich celebrations of the British victory in

Battle of the Nile The Battle of the Nile (also known as the Battle of Aboukir Bay; french: Bataille d'Aboukir) was a major naval battle fought between the British Royal Navy and the Navy of the French Republic at Aboukir Bay on the Mediterranean coast off the ...

in 1798 and declaration of peace in 1801. In 1803 his friend

John Crome John Crome (22 December 176822 April 1821), once known as Old Crome to distinguish him from his artist son John Berney Crome, was an English landscape painter of the Romantic era, one of the principal artists and founding members of the Norw ...

and

Robert Ladbrooke Robert Ladbrooke (1768 – 11 October 1842) was an English landscape painter who, along with John Crome, founded the Norwich School of painters. His sons Henry Ladbrooke and John Berney Ladbrooke were also associated with the Norwich School. Ea ...

formed the Norwich Society of Artists, a group that also included Coppin as well as Robert Dixon, Charles Hodgson, James Stark and George Vincent. Their first exhibition, in 1805, marked the start of the Norwich School of painters, the first art movement created outside London. The following year he accompanied Crome and the dealer William Barnes Freeman on a visit to

Paris Paris () is the capital and most populous city of France, with an estimated population of 2,165,423 residents in 2019 in an area of more than 105 km² (41 sq mi), making it the 30th most densely populated city in the world in 2020. S ...

to view the treasures of the

Louvre The Louvre ( ), or the Louvre Museum ( ), is the world's most-visited museum, and an historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the ''Mona Lisa'' and the ''Venus de Milo''. A central l ...

, possible now that the

Napoleonic Wars The Napoleonic Wars (1803–1815) were a series of major global conflicts pitting the French Empire and its allies, led by Napoleon I, against a fluctuating array of European states formed into various coalitions. It produced a period of Fren ...

in Europe were at an end. During the visit Crome made sketches and bought works produced by French artists, which the group managed to smuggle back to England. The first exhibition of the Norwich Society, in 1805, marked the start of the Norwich School of Painters. In the exhibition, 223 works were shown by eighteen different exhibitors, including Coppin. Its success inspired the society to stage an exhibition every year, an event which continued until 1833. Coppin contributed regularly to the exhibitions and became President of the Society in 1816. He was a keen collector of works of art: a catalogue of his collection of works was published in 1818 by John Stacey amounted to 266 individual pieces by the artist

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like s ...

alone. In 1820 he travelled to the

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with his seventeen-year-old daughter Emily to view the depictions of still life produced by Dutch painters: the visit profoundly influenced her own artistic style.

Death and legacy

Coppin died in 1822, aged 51 and residing at St. Catherine's Plain, Norwich, and was buried on 23 October 1822 in the churchyard of St. Stephen's, in the city. His death was announced in Charles Mackie's ''Norfolk Annals'', where he was described as being "principally known for his highly creditable studies from Opie".Mackie, Charles, ''Norfolk Annals'', vol. 1 (1800-1850), p.186.
/ref> The running of Coppin's business in Norwich passed to John Middleton, and upon Middleton's death passed to his son, the Norwich artist John Middleton. Coppin was mentioned by the art writer H.M. Cundall as being "chiefly a copyist".

References

Notes

Bibliography

* * * * * * {{DEFAULTSORT:Coppin, Daniel 1771 births 1822 deaths British landscape artists Artists from Norwich