Richard Cooper the elder (1701–1764) was an English engraver, who for most of his career worked in Edinburgh. Richard Cooper Davison

Life

Cooper was born in London, and studied engraving under

John Pine John Pine (1690–1756) was an English designer, engraver, and cartographer notable for his artistic contribution to the Augustan style and Newtonian scientific paradigm that flourished during the British Enlightenment. Early life and apprenti ...

. On the death of his father he was able to visit Italy, where he spent several years studying the masters, becoming a competent artist, and forming a collection of drawings and prints. On his return to England Cooper went with a Mr. Guthrie, to Edinburgh where he settled as an engraver. He built a house in St. John Street, which he decorated with his own pictures. He took on apprentices including Robert Strange. Cooper died in 1764, and was buried in the Canongate churchyard, Edinburgh.

Works

Cooper is best known for his contemporary portraits. Among his line engravings were: * John Taylor the oculist, after William de Nune; *

William Carstares William Carstares (also Carstaires) (11 February 164928 December 1715) was a minister of the Church of Scotland, active in Whig politics. Early life Carstares was born at Cathcart, near Glasgow, Scotland, the son of the Rev. John Carstares, a ...

and Andrew Allan, both after W. Robinson; *

Hew Dalrymple, Lord North Berwick Sir Hew Dalrymple, Lord North Berwick (1652–1737) was a Scottish judge and politician. The third son of James Dalrymple, 1st Viscount of Stair, he was Commissary of Edinburgh; Commissioner to the Parliament of Scotland for New Galloway burgh ...

, after

William Aikman William Aikman may refer to: * William Aikman (painter) William Aikman (24 October 16827 June 1731) was a Scottish portraitist. Life and career Aikman was the son of William Aikman, of Cairney. His father intended that he should follow the l ...

; *

John Napier John Napier of Merchiston (; 1 February 1550 – 4 April 1617), nicknamed Marvellous Merchiston, was a Scottish landowner known as a mathematician, physicist, and astronomer. He was the 8th Laird of Merchiston. His Latinized name was Ioann ...

, the inventor of logarithms; * George Jeffreys, 1st Baron Jeffreys, and others. He also engraved in

mezzotint Mezzotint is a monochrome printmaking process of the '' intaglio'' family. It was the first printing process that yielded half-tones without using line- or dot-based techniques like hatching, cross-hatching or stipple. Mezzotint achieves tonali ...

, examples being: *

Archibald Campbell, 3rd Duke of Argyll Archibald is a masculine given name, composed of the Germanic elements '' erchan'' (with an original meaning of "genuine" or "precious") and ''bald'' meaning "bold". Medieval forms include Old High German and Anglo-Saxon . Erkanbald, bishop o ...

, after Aikman; *

John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair Field Marshal John Dalrymple, 2nd Earl of Stair (20 July 16739 May 1747) was a Scottish soldier and diplomat. He served in the Nine Years' War and the War of the Spanish Succession and, after a period as British Ambassador in Paris, became a ...

, after

Godfrey Kneller Sir Godfrey Kneller, 1st Baronet (born Gottfried Kniller; 8 August 1646 – 19 October 1723), was the leading portrait painter in England during the late 17th and early 18th centuries, and was court painter to Kingdom of England, English and Br ...

; * Lady Wallace, and others. Cooper engraved anatomical plates for the ''Edinburgh Medical Essays'', and book-plates, and other similar compositions. He is also considered by some to be the founder of The Canongate Concert Hall, the first building purpose built for theatre in Scotland. In 1747 he applied to the Edinburgh Dean of Guild Court to build 'a house in a garden opposite to St. John's Cross, Canongate, wholly belonging to himself in property', however it was used as a concert hall. Built during the 1737 Theatres Licensing Act, it attempted to circumvent the legislation by displaying concerts of music instead of formal plays but was eventually closed due to a lack of Royal Permit before reopening as the Theatre Royal in 1767.

Family

About 1738 Cooper married Ann Lind, by whom he left a son, Richard Cooper the younger, who followed his father's profession.

Notes

External links

* The information in this article is out of date and is also inaccurate. See

* See https://sites.google.com/site/richardcooperengraver/ ;Attribution {{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Richard 1701 births 1764 deaths English engravers Artists from London