Cows

Thomas Sidney Cooper is mainly associated with pictures of cattle or sheep, earning him the epithet ‘Cow Cooper’. In this painting the five cattle are silhouetted against a light sky with dramatic clouds. They are sympathetically painted with an eye to detail in the varied markings of the animals. In his autobiography, Merton says that he knew the artist, but had quite a harsh opinion of him, saying that “Cooper’s works were pictures pure and simple, far more than works of art”.