Cooper's Drawing-Book of Animals contains studies that tbe artist IIS
well as the learner may profit by, and that are as pleasing to look at as they are useful to study. SIDNEY COOPER may vie with EDWIN LANDSEER, in the characteristic skill with which he delineates sheep and oxen. He has the accuracy, neatness, and finish of the Dutch school, in which he studied, with the freshness of originality. His drawings are free, delicate, and graceful ; truthful, without being formal, and elegant in style, without being mannered. The Drawing. Book consists of thirty-two leaves, each containing several figures or groups—some large, others smaller—of sheep and goats, cows and calves, horses and asses, dogs and men, sketched from nature in the fields. The character of the animals, as expressed by their forms, physiognomies, and attitudes, and the texture of their coats, is indi- cated with the tact and mastery that result from thorough knowledge and practised skill. In a word, the creatures are alive and at their ease; they do not look as if they were sitting for their portraits. The men are not so well drawn as the beasts; indeed this is commonly the case in pictures. A book of rustic figures, drawn with equal under- standing of the form, and corresponding boldness and dexterity, is a desideratum. SIDNEY COOPER'S command over the lithographic ma- terials is great: he draws with facility, combining lightness with power. This is a volume of original sketches, in fact—as much so as if each one impression was actually drawn with the pencil by the artist himself. No engraving could convey the painter's feeling, and preserve his touch, as these drawings on the stone do.
Previous page
