William Brown(ing) Cooper

(1811-1900)

Born near Carthage in 1811; died at Chattanooga in 1900.  Financially assisted by his brother Washington, he was able to study at the New York Academy of Design and to follow this with three years in the academies of Paris and Rome.  On his return to the United States he painted portraits in Washington, St. Louis, Chicago, New Orleans and Little Rock as well as in Tennessee.  He maintained a studio in Memphis for 15 years before coming to Nashville and then moved from Nashville to Chattanooga in 1885.

Both Washington and William signed their pictures “W. B. Cooper,” thereby posing some problems in attribution.  However, most of the Coopers in Middle Tennessee are almost certainly by Washington.  William seems to have specialized in the painting of children and, probably because of his studies in Italy, to have employed a more opulent palette than his reticent brother.

Tennessee Painting the Past, Tennessee Fine Arts Center, Cheekwood, 1960.