Biography

Richard Cooper senior [c.1696-1764] was (I currently believe) born in London, the son of William Cooper, bricklayer and tyler. He may have attended Merchant Taylor's school until 1711-12 and he was probably apprenticed to John Clarke, citizen and stationer in 1717 although at the very late age of 21. Certainly by 1724 he was trading as a stationer and engraver, making a bookplate for one of the Lords of the Treasury, the Scot, George Baillie of Jerviswood, an account that was settled in August 1725. The Mellerstain account book shows he also supplied a hall book for visitors, account books, a case for papers and 'a book to teach distilling'. The latter is almost certainly George Smith's 'A Compleat Body of Distilling' published in London in 1725, a fact that chimes with Cooper's design for the frontispiece to 'The Vineyard', published in London in 1727 and with his ownership of a brewing property in the Canongate after 1735 He appears to have spent some time at the first St. Martin's Lane Academy, run by Louis Cheron and had his portrait taken by another member, George Englehart Schroder, before that artist left for his native Sweden in 1725. Cooper arrived in Edinburgh shortly after 1725 and was soon having an impact on the artistic and cultural life of the Scottish capital. He engraved almost all of the published music in Scotland for the next thirty years and around 1726 began engraving the plates for William Adam's 'Vitruvius Scoticus' a book that was not to be published until 1811. In 1728 if not before, Cooper began a collaboration with Alexander Monro, primus, that led to the publication of anatomical illustrations for the first time in Scotland. These appeared as engravings in the 'Medical Essays and Observations' between 1734-45. In 1742 Cooper also worked on a more ambitious project with Monro, to publish a reduced version of the famous 'Tabulae Sceleti et Musculorum Corporis Humani' by B. S. Albinus, copying in a modified form, the original plates. This book too did not see the light of day until 1800. (See my article in 'The Book Collector', 2000) Cooper was a founding member of the Academy of St. Luke, the first academy of artists in Scotland, established in October 1729. He was the treasurer and drawing master, making use of prints and Old Master drawings acquired on his Grand Tour to introduce to Scotland, French ideas of design for manufactures. Other members of the academy included the poet Alan Ramsay, artists, George Marshall (Preses) John Alexander, William Adam, James Norie senior, Andrew Hay, and Roderick Chalmers. There were a number of legal and aristocratic supporters, Gilbert Elliot, Lord Minto, Alexander, Lord Garlies, later 6th Earl of Galloway and Charles, Lord Linton, later 5th Earl of Traquair. Members could assign their places in the drawing classes to worthy pupils, often their own children - the painter Alan Ramsay and Robert Norie being the most notable. 1735 saw Cooper purchase an area of land in the Canongate of Edinburgh and build himself a large house with views across his own long garden towards the magnificent sweep of Salisbury Crags and Arthur's Seat. Three years later he married Ann, daughter of a wealthy draper and landowner, George Lind of Gorgie. This marriage brought kinship with several influential aristocratic families in Scotland including the earls of Findlater and Eglinton. Ann's brother Alexander experimented with the production of porcelain on the Gorgie estate in the late 1740's. (See my article and others on the 'A' marked wares) In 1747 Cooper built a theatre in his garden in the Canongate and leased it out for 25 years as the 'Canongate Concert Hall'. It was here that William Delacour designed the scenery for the ground-breaking performance of 'The Douglas' by the Presbyterian minister John Home in 1756. Cooper sold his house and bought other properties in the Canongate in 1749 and in 1751 the historic 'Dean's House' at Restalrig, then a village outside Edinburgh. He died in January 1764 and was buried in the churchyard at Restalrig where his wife and son George joined him. His eldest son, Richard jun. [b. 1740] became drawing master at Eton College and held a similar position with Queen Charlotte and Princess Elizabeth. He died in London in 1814. Can I help yo with your research in Scotland? CONTACT: joe@tilton.freeserve.co.uk