David Cobley (born 27 June 1954) is an English portrait and figure painter and founder o
Bath Artists' Studios

Early life

David Hugh Cobley was born in

Northampton Northampton () is a market town and civil parish in the East Midlands of England, on the River Nene, north-west of London and south-east of Birmingham. The county town of Northamptonshire, Northampton is one of the largest towns in England; ...

in 1954. He grew up in

Higham Ferrers Higham Ferrers is a market town and civil parish in the Nene Valley in North Northamptonshire, England, close to the Cambridgeshire and Bedfordshire borders. It forms a single built-up area with Rushden to the south and has an estimated populati ...

and was educated at the county primary school there before going on to Wellingborough Grammar School and Northampton School of Art. He dropped out of Liverpool College of Art in 1972, but was briefly taught there by Welsh landscape painter Peter Prendergast. He completed a degree in Comparative Culture at Sophia University during his nine-year stay in Japan.

Career

After working as an

illustrator An illustrator is an artist who specializes in enhancing writing or elucidating concepts by providing a visual representation that corresponds to the content of the associated text or idea. The illustration may be intended to clarify complicat ...

he began painting

portrait A portrait is a portrait painting, painting, portrait photography, photograph, sculpture, or other artistic representation of a person, in which the face and its expressions are predominant. The intent is to display the likeness, Personality type ...

s, and was shortlisted for the John Player Portrait Award, now the BP Portrait Award, in 1989. He was elected to the Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 1997, and was commissioned by the

Inner Temple The Honourable Society of the Inner Temple, commonly known as the Inner Temple, is one of the four Inns of Court and is a professional associations for barristers and judges. To be called to the Bar and practise as a barrister in England and Wal ...

to paint

The Princess Royal Princess Royal is a style customarily (but not automatically) awarded by a British monarch to their eldest daughter. Although purely honorary, it is the highest honour that may be given to a female member of the royal family. There have been sev ...

in 2000. His portrait of the comedian Ken Dodd was bought by the

National Portrait Gallery National Portrait Gallery may refer to: *National Portrait Gallery (Australia), in Canberra *National Portrait Gallery (Sweden), in Mariefred *National Portrait Gallery (United States), in Washington, D.C. *National Portrait Gallery, London, with s ...

for its permanent collection in 2005. Five years later, The National Portrait Gallery commissioned him to paint a portrait of the scientist

Sir Martin John Evans Sir Martin John Evans (born 1 January 1941) is an English biologist who, with Matthew Kaufman, was the first to culture mice embryonic stem cells and cultivate them in a laboratory in 1981. He is also known, along with Mario Capecchi and Oli ...

Associations

(with date of election) * Royal Society of Portrait Painters (1997) * Royal West of England Academy (2001) * New English Art Club (2003)

Publications

*''David Cobley: All By Himself'' by Peter Davies (2019) published by Sansom & Company

ISBN The International Standard Book Number (ISBN) is a numeric commercial book identifier that is intended to be unique. Publishers purchase ISBNs from an affiliate of the International ISBN Agency. An ISBN is assigned to each separate edition and ...

: 978-1-911408-53-6 *''The Portrait Now'' (Nairne and Howgate)

References

External links

Website
davidcobley.com
{{DEFAULTSORT:Cobley, David 1954 births Living people 20th-century English painters English male painters 21st-century English painters 21st-century English male artists Members of the Royal West of England Academy People from Higham Ferrers Artists from Northampton 20th-century English male artists