Cowper, Frank Cadogan

Cowper, Frank Cadogan (1877–1958). British painter, born at Wicken, Northamptonshire, son of Frank Cowper, a writer of historical novels, some of which he illustrated himself. He studied at St John's Wood School of Art, 1896–7, and the Royal Academy Schools, 1897–1902, then spent six months working with E. A. Abbey. An arch-conservative, Cowper inherited his father's love of historical romance and was perhaps the last notable exponent of the type of mystical, medieval (and often rather mawkish) subject favoured in the 19th century by the Pre-Raphaelites, exhibiting pictures in this vein at the Royal Academy until almost the time of his death. In 1952 he caused controversy when his painting The Jealous Husband, showing a man disguised as a priest hearing his wife's confession, was thought by some people to be too unseemly for the walls of the Academy. By this time, however, he was devoting himself mainly to portraiture, as the taste for historical and literary pictures declined. He lived in London for most of his career, but moved to the Cotswolds after the Second World War and died in Cirencester.