William Cooper (1754-1809)

Date1794-1797

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsSight: 35 1/4 × 27 1/4 in. (89.5 × 69.2 cm)

Object numberN0144.1977

Credit LineCollection of the Fenimore Art Museum. Gift of Dr. Henry S. F. Cooper

Photograph by Richard Walker

Label TextWilliam Cooper (1754-1809), the father of novelist James Fenimore Cooper, was born in Smithfield (now Somerton), Pennsylvania. He received little education, worked as a wheelwright in Byberry, Pennsylvania, and then became a merchant in Burlington, New Jersey. In the 1780s, he turned to land speculation. Through energy, self-confidence, and business acumen, he was remarkably successful. Within 20 years, he acquired a fortune and is credited with the settlement of 750,000 acres, including the site of Cooperstown, which he founded in 1786. (Note the street plan of Cooperstown shown rolled in his hand.) After moving his family to the town in 1790, William Cooper was made a judge in 1791 and was elected to Congress as a Federalist in 1794 and again in 1798. Gilbert Stuart was the leading portrait painter in the United States from the 1790s until his death in 1828. He painted most of the early leaders of the country, and his portraits of the first five presidents, particularly that of George Washington, are still their best-known images today. This portrait was probably painted in 1794 in Philadelphia, then the seat of Congress, as it resembles several other paintings done at that time.
Exhibition History“American Treasures from the Fenimore Art Museum,” Society of the Four Arts, Palm Beach, FL, February 20 – April 11, 2004.

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