Frank Cadogan Cowper facts for kids

Detail of Margaret, Henry VIII, and Princess Mary being visited by Erasmus, dated c. 1910

Frank Cadogan Cowper RA RWS RP RWA (born October 16, 1877 – died November 17, 1958) was a famous English painter and illustrator. He painted portraits, historical scenes, and pictures based on stories. People sometimes called him "The Last Pre-Raphaelite" because his art style was similar to a group of artists from an earlier time.

Life and Work

Lucretia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI, painted around 1910.

Frank Cadogan Cowper was born in Wicken, Northamptonshire, England. His father, Frank Cowper, was an author and loved sailing. His grandfather, Edward Cadogan, was a church leader in Wicken.

Cadogan Cowper went to Cranleigh School before he started studying art. He first attended St John's Wood Art School in 1896. Then, from 1897 to 1902, he studied at the Royal Academy Schools. He showed his art at the Royal Academy for the first time in 1899. Just two years later, he became well-known for his painting An Aristocrat Answering the Summons to Execution, Paris 1791 (1901).

In 1902, Cadogan Cowper worked for six months helping another artist, Edwin Austin Abbey, on a huge painting called The Coronation of King Edward VII. This painting is now part of the Royal Collection. After this, he traveled to Italy to continue his art studies.

Cadogan Cowper used different types of paint, including oils, tempera, and watercolors. He also worked as a book illustrator, drawing pictures for books like The Imperial Shakespeare. From 1910 to 1912, he helped paint a large mural in the Houses of Parliament in London.

As art styles changed over time, Cadogan Cowper began to show more of his portrait paintings. However, he still continued to create beautiful historical and story-based artworks.

Later in his life, Cadogan Cowper moved away from London to Gloucestershire. One of his paintings, The Ugly Duckling, was chosen as the "favorite painting" by visitors to the Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum in 2005.

His painting Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth (1917) sold for a record price of £469,250 at an auction in London in 2011.

His art is still shown in important exhibitions today. For example, the National Gallery of London showed his work in an exhibition called Saint Francis of Assisi until July 2023. Also, in February 2024, his painting Vanity was featured in the Pre-Raphaelites: A Modern Renaissance exhibition in Italy.

Awards

Frank Cadogan Cowper received many awards for his art:

• He became an Associate of the Royal Academy (A.R.A) in 1907 and a full Royal Academician (R.A) in 1934.
• He joined the Royal Watercolour Society as an Associate (A.R.W.S.) in 1904 and became a full member (R.W.S.) in 1911.
• He was a member of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (R.P.) starting in 1921.
• He was also an Academician of the Royal West of England Academy (RWA Academician).
• He was an honorary member of The Society of Graphic Fine Art from 1920.
• In 1899, he won a silver medal and the Armitage Prize from the Royal Academy Schools Competition.

Patrons

Some important people who supported Frank Cadogan Cowper's art by buying his paintings were:

• Evelyn Waugh
• The Wills Family of Miserden Park

Gallery

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  Fanny, Sketch of a girl in crinoline dress (1903)

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  Henry VIII and Catherine of Aragon before Papal Legates at Blackfriars, 1529 (1910)

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  The Morning of the Nativity (1912)

Selected Paintings

Here are some of Frank Cadogan Cowper's well-known paintings:

• Rapunzel (Singing from the Tower) (1900)
• Hamlet - The churchyard scene (1902)
• Lady Clare and her lily-white doe (1902)
• Francis of Assisi and the Heavenly Melody (1904)
• St Agnes in Prison Receiving from Heaven the 'Shining White Garment' (1905)
• La Belle Dame sans Merci (1905)
• Molly, Duchess of Nona (1905)
• A Merciless Beauty (1906)
• Mariana in the South (1906)
• Vanity (1907)
• Love Potion (1907)
• How the Devil, Disguised (1907)
• Venetian Ladies Listening to the Serenade (1909)
• Erasmus and Thomas More Visit the Children of Henry VII at Greenwich, 1499 (1910)
• Lucretia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI (1908–14)
• The Love Letter (1911)
• Sir William Walter Carlile, 1st Baronet, OBE, DL, JP (1862–1950) (1913)
• The Hon. Mrs. Hanbury-Tracy (1914)
• Faust's first sight of Marguerite (1915)
• Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth (1917)
• The Blue Bird (1918)
• The Cathedral Scene from 'Faust': Margaret tormented by the Evil Spirit (1919)
• Vanity (1919)
• Fair Rosamund and Queen Eleanor (1920)
• Violet Miriam Nightingale Clay, Lady Vernon (1920)
• Mrs E.H. Evans–Combe (1920)
• Lady Gordon Taylor (1923)
• The Damozel of the Lake, called Nimue the Enchantress (Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur") (1924)
• Lady Hildebrand Harmsworth (1925)
• La Belle Dame sans Merci (1926)
• Margaret, Daughter of Montague Napier, Esq. (1926)
• The Hon. Sackville-West (1927)
• Titania Sleeps (1928)
• Sir Havilland De Sausmarez (1930)
• Mrs. Albert S. Kerry (1930)
• Pamela, Daughter of Lieut. Col. M.F. Halford (1930)
• Lilla, Daughter of E.M. Maclaurin, Esq. Married to N.H. Signor Sacra De Jordanow. (1930)
• Miss Mona Sayer, Grand-daughter of Sir Walter Maude, KCIE CSI (1936)
• The Fortune–Teller: "Beware of a Dark Lady" (1940)
• La Belle Dame sans Merci (1946)
• The Ugly Duckling (1950)
• The Legend of Sir Perceval (1952–53)
• The Four Queens Find Lancelot Sleeping (1954)
• Elizabeth, Daughter of Major General F.V.B. Willis (1955)
• The Golden Bowl (1956)
• Self-Portrait (1957)
• The Patient Griselda
• Portrait of Professor Rey
• Lancelot slays the Caitiff Knight Sir Tarquin and rescues the fair lady and the knight in captivity
• Eve