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Henry Cooke (1642-1700)

A Shepherdess 1690s

Oil on canvas | 176.5 x 129.4 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external) | RCIN 402977

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  • Henry Cooke was a painter of decorative and history subjects who studied with the portrait artist, Theodore Russel. He spent time in Italy during the 1660s and 1670s, and after his return worked with Parry Walton to repair paintings in the Royal Collection. These included the Raphael cartoons and in 1697 Cooke was granted permission to make copies of the cartoons, one set of which was later owned by Hans Sloane. In c.1690 Cooke also completed the large mural painting of an equestrian portrait of Charles II surounded by allegorical figures, in the Great Hall of the Chelsea Royal hospital, which had been begun by Antonio Verrio several years earlier.

    This is a pair with A Goatherd with a Flute (RCIN 402977). Both were previously attributed to John Collins, an artist working some years later than Cooke. The shepherdess is depicted in a rocky landscape with mountains in the distance. There is a pink garland in her hair and she wears antique style standals. She reaches down to the left to caress a brown and white dog which jumps up to her.
    Provenance

    Probably commissioned by William III or Queen Anne; recorded in the Little Drawing Room at St James's Palace in 1710 (nos 10-1), as 'Mr Cooke, Shepherds and Shepherdesses two door piece[s]'; still here in 1720; perhaps on the King of Denmark's Staircase at Kensington Palace in 1790 (no 12); in the King's State Bedchamber at Hampton Court in 1819, attributed to Gennari; in the King's Dressing Room at Hampton Court in 1835 and 1861 (no 220), as Collins

  • Medium and techniques

    Oil on canvas

    Measurements

    176.5 x 129.4 cm (support, canvas/panel/stretcher external)

    193.4 x 146.2 x 4.5 cm (frame, external)

  • Other number(s)

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