Thomas Cooper Gotch aka T.C. Gotch, English painter and book illustrator, was linked to the Pre-Raphaelite movement.
The romantic style of the Pre-Raphaelites is clearly portrayed in Thomas Gotch’s painting “The Child Enthroned”.
Born on December 10, 1854 in Kettering, Northamptonshire, Thomas was the fourth son of a shoemaker. Happily, his parents provided the encouragement and financial support to jump-start his artistic journey. He attended the finest art schools: 1876-1877, Heatherley’s art school in London, 1877-1878 and Koninklijke Academie voor Schone Kunsten in Antwerp. In 1879, at the Slade School of Fine Art in London, Thomas met his wife Caroline Yates.
Thomas and Caroline studied in Paris during the early 1880’s until they moved, in 1887, to Newlyn, a fishing village on the south coast of Cornwall. They joined the Newlyn art colony which was similar to the Barbizon School in France, where artists traveled from Paris to paint in a more pure setting emphasizing natural light.
I understand that Thomas used his daughter, Phyllis, as a sitter for “The Child Enthroned.” There was an earlier painting entitled, “My Crown and Sceptre” which was completed in 1892.
“The Child Enthroned,” which is considered his master work, was completed two years later.
Thomas Gotch’s, “Alleluia” can be viewed at the Tate Gallery.
ChasingART 
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