George Cope (1855-1929)

SOLD
American
A Hunter and his Pointer in Fields at West Chester, Pennsylvania in Autumn
Monogrammed with interlocking initials and dated (at lower left):  “GC 1898″
Retains indistinct original inscription on partial remnant of original frame…/WEST CHESTER
Oil on canvas
8 7/8″ 11 1/4” framed

George Cope was an avid hunter as well as painter.  Many of his paintings, particularly his trompe l’oeil paintings, depict game that he shot.  It is believed that this painting may, in fact, be a self-portrait of the artist and his dog in the countryside around his home in West Chester, Pennsylvannia.

He was born in Western Chester County to Quaker parents in 1855.  He enjoyed drawing as a child and later studied with Herman Herzog in Philadelphia.  Like many of his contemporaries, Cope journeyed out West to paint on two occasions, in 1876 and three years later, in 1879.

By 1883, Cope returned to West Chester and was working as an art restorer, an art teacher and painting still-lifes.  From the early 1890’s on he was concentrating on small table top paintings painted in his meticulous style.  The Brandywine River Museum had a retrospective of his work in 1978.