Arthur Stockdale Cope

Sir Arthur Stockdale Cope, (born 2 November 1857 – 5 July 1940) was a British portraitist.

Biography Cope was born on 2 November 1857, in South Kensington, London. His father was Charles West Cope (1811–1890), a successful history and genre painter, his mother was Charlotte Cope, née Benning (d. 1868). He attended Norwich Grammar School and Wiesbaden, before training in art at Cary’s Art School and then moving to the Royal Academy school in 1874.

He married Emily Beatrix Hawtayne on 6 September 1882, and the couple had two sons and a daughter. In 1927, Cope was appointed Knight Commander of the Royal Victorian Order and in 1933 he became a senior Royal Academician. He died on 5 July 1940 near Launceston, Cornwall.

His clever use of fluid paint, striking colour and harsh artificial lighting are well seen in his portrait of Admiral of the Fleet Sir Frederick Richards in the National Maritime Museum, London (Greenwich Hospital Collection). His high-profile works and successful style won him many honours: in 1900 he became a fellow of the Royal Society of Portrait Painters; in 1910 he was elected Royal Academician; and in 1917 he was knighted. In addition to his busy painting practice, Cope established an art school in South Kensington and Vanessa Bell (1879–1961) was among his pupils.