Harold Copping (1863 –1932) was a British artist best known as an illustrator of Biblical scenes.
His father was a journalist and his grandfather was John Skinner Prout, the water-colour artist.
He studied in London’s Royal Academy where he won a Landseer Scholarship to study in Paris.
He became a famous painter and illustrator and he had links with the missionary societies of his time including the London Missionary Society, who commissioned him as an illustrator of Biblical scenes.
To achieve authenticity and realism for his illustrations he travelled to Palestine and Egypt.
Copping used family, friends and neighbours as models in his paintings, keeping a stock of costumes and props at his home.
His pictures were also widely reproduced by missionary societies as posters, tracts and as magazine illustrations.
