Thomas Cooper Moore. English ( b.1827 - d.1901 ).Prospect of Nottingham Castle And The Park.Watercolour. Signed Lower Left.Image size 12 inches x 17.3 inches ( 30.5cm x 44cm ).Frame size 15.4 inches x 24.8 inches ( 39cm x 63cm ).Available for sale from Big Sky Fine Art in the English county of Dorset, this original painting is by the Nottinghamshire artist Thomas Cooper Moore and dates from around the 1880s.The watercolour is presented and supplied in a sympathetic frame and mount (which is shown in these photographs) and behind glass dating from about the 1980s.There is evidence of an old fold in the paper that runs vertically through the right-hand structure of the castle. This has been virtually eliminated by pressure and gentle heat in a press, addressed in the 1980s when the artwork was framed. This piece is now ready to hang and display.The watercolour is signed lower left.Thomas Cooper Moore was a talented Victorian watercolourist and pen and ink artist. He was largely self-taught and indeed passed on his skills as he taught his three sons, who all became artists. Of them, his eldest Claude T.S. Moore (1853-1901) was the most proficient. Thomas Cooper Moore was born in Nottingham in humble circumstances in 1827. He was initially apprenticed to a Nottingham firm of printers but later moved to London, where he painted many scenes on the Thames. During the 1850s and 1860s he travelled extensively in the Midlands and South of England, producing a number of highly regarded agricultural and landscape views. He later returned to Nottingham and concentrated on landscapes in the surrounding areas. His work was exhibited in Sheffield, Nottingham, Birmingham and London, including at the Royal Academy. Despite his obvious talent and prolific work ethic Thomas Cooper Moore sadly came on hard times and spent his later years eking out a living selling his paintings around the town for a few shillings each. He died a poor man ...