Cope Charles West

Cope, Charles West, born 1811 at Leeds, received his education as a painter at the Royal Academy, and in Italy and the Netherlands. At the age of twenty he began to exhibit pictures illustrative of history or of dramatic scenes. He was elected A.R.A. in 1844, and at the same time received a commission to execute the eight frescoes that adorn the Peers' corridor at Westminster. The full distinction of R.A. followed in 1818. From 1867 to 1874 he was professor of painting in the Royal Academy. He died in 1890. As his artistic career covers a period of over half a century, his works are very numerous. Among the later ones may be mentioned Launcelot Gobbo's Siesta, The Taming of the Shrew, The Good Shepherd Giveth His Life for the Sheep, and Anne Page and Slender (1882). In colouring and style he approaches Mulready, displaying less brilliancy but more correctness.