Egerton Cooper

Alfred Egerton Cooper was a well-known portrait, object and landscape painter, and gained some fame with his portraits of Prime Minister Winston Churchill. He mainly painted in oil, gouache, and watercolors. Cooper studied at the Royal College of Art in London and at Bilston School of Arts. In World War I, he lost almost all his sight in one eye due to chlorine gas.

Three of Cooper’s four entries were described in the catalog as watercolors. Paddock at Pony Races is shown in the illustrations’ part. Gillies preparing for fishing probably refers to the Scottish painter William George Gillies. Derby Day showing a scene in the surroundings of the Derby at Epsom was done in gouache and created as early as 1933 as and was probably therefore shown out of competition. Later, a second painting was created titled No. 2 ‘Epsom Downs on Derby Day’ (gouache on brown paper, 27.5 x 36 cm).