Frank Cadogan Cowper
Frank Cadogan Cowper (16 October 1877 – 17 November 1958) was an English painter and illustrator of portraits, historical and literary scenes, also described as "The Last Pre-Raphaelite".
Also recorded as Frank Cadogan Cowper, R.A. · F. Cadogan Cowper · F.C. Cowper · Cadogan Cowper
Frank Cadogan Cowper

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- Name
- Frank Cadogan Cowper
- Born
- 16 October 1877
- Birthplace
- Wicken, Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom
- Died
- 17 November 1958
- Place of death
- Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom
- Education
- Royal Academy Schools
- Known for
- Painting
- Movement
- Pre-Raphaelite Romanticism
- Awards
- Royal Academician RWA Academician
- Nationality
- United Kingdom of Great Britain and Ireland · United Kingdom
- Occupation
- painter · illustrator · muralist · watercolorist · artist · draftsperson
- Movements
- Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood · Romanticism
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Frank Cadogan Cowper (16 October 1877 – 17 November 1958) was an English painter and illustrator of portraits, historical and literary scenes, also described as "The Last Pre-Raphaelite".
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wikidata · Q1398238 · wikipedia · Frank Cadogan Cowper
In this article
Biography
Biography
Frank Cadogan Cowper studied at Cranleigh School, St John's Wood Art School and Royal Academy Schools. Training under Edwin Austin Abbey is recorded. The recorded working language is English. The field of work recorded is painting. Subjects and genres recorded for the work are portrait, history, mythological and painting. Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais are recorded as an influence. Residence is recorded at London and Isle of Wight. Works named in the authority record are Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth, Vanity and The Ugly Duckling. Work by Frank Cadogan Cowper is recorded in the collections of Tate, Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery, Royal Academy of Arts and The Wilson. Distinctions recorded are Royal Academician.
Key facts
Key facts
• Name — Frank Cadogan Cowper • Born — 16 October 1877 • Birthplace — Wicken, Northamptonshire, England, United Kingdom • Died — 17 November 1958 • Place of death — Cirencester, Gloucestershire, England, United Kingdom • Parents — * Frank Cowper • E. E. Cowper • Relatives — * Edward Cadogan (grandfather) • Edward Cadogan (cousin) • Sir William Carlile (uncle) • Education — Royal Academy Schools • Known for — Painting • Movement — Pre-Raphaelite Romanticism • Works — Vanity (1907), The young Duchess (1917), La Belle Dame sans Merci (1926) • Patron — Evelyn Waugh • Awards — Royal Academician RWA Academician • Illustration — Detail of Margaret, Henry VIII, and Princess Mary being visited by Erasmus, dated c. 1910
Life and work
Life and work
• Illustration — Lucretia Borgia Reigns in the Vatican in the Absence of Pope Alexander VI, ca. 1910 Frank Cadogan Cowper was born in Wicken, Northamptonshire, the son of an author and early pioneer of coastal cruising in yachts, Frank Cowper, and grandson of Edward Cadogan, the Rector of Wicken. Cadogan Cowper was educated at Cranleigh before going on to study art, first at St John's Wood Art School in 1896 and then at the Royal Academy Schools from 1897 to 1902. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1899 and achieved critical acclaim two years later with his An Aristocrat Answering the Summons to Execution, Paris 1791 (1901). In 1902, Cadogan Cowper spent six months as an apprentice helping Edwin Austin Abbey complete a monumental canvas painting The Coronation of King Edward VII (now in the Royal Collection) before travelling to Italy to continue his studies. Cadogan Cowper worked in oils, tempera and watercolours, and simultaneously worked as a book illustrator, providing the illustrations for Sir Sidney Lee's The Imperial Shakespeare. He contributed to a mural in the Houses of Parliament in 1910-12 along with John Byam Liston Shaw, Ernest Board and Henry Arthur Payne. As art trends changed, Cadogan Cowper increasingly exhibited his portrait paintings and still continued to produce historical and literary works of art. Cadogan Cowper retired from London and moved to Gloucestershire. One of his paintings, The Ugly Duckling, was voted "their favourite painting" by visitors to the Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum in 2005. The record price for a Cadogan Cowper painting at sale is £469,250 for Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth (1917) at Christie's in London on 17 December, 2011. The National Gallery of London staged an exhibition Saint Francis of Assisi which included the work of Frank Cadogan Cowper in 2023. In 2024, the Musei di San Domenico in Forlì, Italy, hosted the exhibition Pre-Raphaelites: A Modern Renaissance that featured the work of Cadogan Cowper Vanity.
Patron(s)
Patron(s)
• Evelyn Waugh • The Wills Family of Miserden Park
Studio Locations
Studio Locations
• 1902 (6 mos)》 Morgan Hall, Fairford, Gloucestershire • 1903 – 1905 》 1 Edwardes Square Studios, Kensington, London • 1905 – 1909 》 38 Barrow Hill Road, St John's Wood, N.W., London • 1909 – 1924 》 2 Edwardes Square Studios, Kensington, London • 1924 – 1940 》 3 Tite Street, SW3, London • 1940 – 1944 》 The Studio, Les Blanches, St Martin's, Jersey • 1944 – 1951 》 Hughenden House, Fairford, Gloucestershire • 1951 – 1958 》 Summerton, Berkeley Road, Cirencester, Wiltshire
Gallery
Gallery
• Illustration — Fanny, Sketch of a girl in crinoline dress (1903) • Illustration — The Morning of the Nativity (1912)
Identity and origins
Identity and origins
The authorities additionally record the headings Frank Cadogan Cowper, R.A. Cadogan Cowper, F.C. Cowper, Cadogan Cowper and Frank Cadogan-Cowper. His recorded language was English. He was the child of Frank Cowper and Edith Cowper. Other recorded relations include Edward Cadogan, William Carlile and Harry Cooper.
Career and activity
Career and activity
Frank Cadogan Cowper worked in painting. His work is associated with Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood and Romanticism. He belonged to Royal Academy of Arts, Royal West of England Academy, Royal Watercolour Society, Royal Society of Portrait Painters and Society of Graphic Art. He worked at London and Isle of Wight.
Identity
Identity
Frank Cadogan Cowper is recorded as having studied at Cranleigh School, St John's Wood Art School and Royal Academy Schools.
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
Explore 1877–1958
The full dated record · 5 entries
1877
Frank Cadogan Cowper born at Wicken.
1903
Fanny, Sketch Of A Girl In Crinoline Dress is dated 1903.
1917
Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth is dated 1917.
1946
Joan Saxton, a Student Nurse Who Trained at Cirencester Memorial Hospital is dated 1946.
1958
Frank Cadogan Cowper died at Cirencester.
Places
Named by the record
Places
Only places the record itself states, plotted where the house gazetteer settles their coordinates. Nothing is inferred from a name or a nationality.
London and Isle of Wight
Residences
Wicken.
Birth place
Cirencester.
Death place
List of paintings (selection)
• 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) Exhibited at the National Gallery, London in 2023. • St Agnes in Prison Receiving from Heaven the 'Shining White Garment' (1905) • La Belle Dame sans Merci (1905) Exhibited at the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours the same year; The International Fine Arts Exhibition, Rome, Italy in 1911. • Molly, Duchess of Nona (1905) • A Merciless Beauty (1906) • Mariana in the South (1906) Exhibited at the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours the same year. • Vanity (1907) Diploma Work for the Royal Academy • Love Potion (1907) Exhibited at the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours the same year. • How the Devil, Disguised (1907) Exhibited at the Royal Academy and Fine Arts Society the same year. • Venetian Ladies Listening to the Serenade (1909) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • 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) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • Sir William Walter Carlile, 1st Baronet, OBE, DL, JP (1862–1950) (1913) • The Hon. Mrs. Hanbury-Tracy (1914) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • Faust's first sight of Marguerite (1915) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth (1917) • The Blue Bird (1918) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year • The Cathedral Scene from 'Faust': Margaret tormented by the Evil Spirit (1919) • Vanity (1919) • Fair Rosamund and Queen Eleanor (1920) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • Violet Miriam Nightingale Clay, Lady Vernon (1920) • Mrs E.H. Evans–Combe (1920) • Lady Gordon Taylor (1923) Private Collection • The Damozel of the Lake, called Nimue the Enchantress (Malory's "Le Morte d'Arthur") (1924) • Lady Hildebrand Harmsworth (1925) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • La Belle Dame sans Merci (1926) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • Margaret, Daughter of Montague Napier, Esq. (1926) • The Hon. Vita Sackville-West (1927) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • Titania Sleeps (1928) • Sir Havilland De Sausmarez (1930) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • Mrs. Albert S. Kerry (1930) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • Pamela, Daughter of Lieut. Col. M.F. Halford (1930) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • 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) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • The Golden Bowl (1956) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • Self-Portrait (1957) Exhibited at the Royal Academy the same year. • 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
Awards
• Royal Academy / ARA 1907 / RA 1934 • Royal Watercolour Society / ARWS 1904 / RWS 1911 • Royal Society of Portrait Painters / RP 1921 • Royal West of England Academy / RWA Academician • Society of Graphic Fine Art / From the early days of the Society: Hon. Member 1920 • Royal Academy Schools Competition silver medal and Armitage Prize, 1899
References
Citations
References
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reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q1398238: Frank Cadogan CowperWikimedia Foundation
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Further particulars
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Formation and teaching. Cowper studied at Cranleigh School, St John's Wood Art School and Royal Academy Schools. He trained under Edwin Austin Abbey. His recorded influences include Dante Gabriel Rossetti and John Everett Millais. Work and production. Works recorded as notable number 3: Our Lady of the Fruits of the Earth, Vanity and The Ugly Duckling. His recorded genres are portrait, history, mythological, painting and figurative art. Cowper received Royal Academician.
Recognition and collections
Work by Frank Cadogan Cowper is
Tate, Art Gallery of New South Wales, National Gallery and Royal Academy of Arts
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 14 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Illustration
5,224 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Françoiz BreutIllustrator
- Frank Bernard DickseeIllustrator
- Frank BrunnerIllustrator
- Frank C. PapéIllustrator
- Frank CowperIllustrator
- Frank DuMondIllustrator
- Frank FellerIllustrator
- Frank H. NetterIllustrator
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