The angel of death (a winged skeletal creature) drops some deadly substances into a river near a town; representing typhoid. Watercolour, 1912, after R. Cooper.

1 painting : watercolour, with gouache and chalk ; image 71.4 x 46.4 cm

After Richard Cooper 1912.

One of several paintings commissioned by Henry S. Wellcome around 1912 from Richard Cooper, who was then working in Paris. Cooper was educated at Tonbridge and then trained as an artist in Paris before the First World War. In 1914 he joined the British Army and in 1916 was transferred to the Royal Engineers. His obituary in The times says that he worked on camouflage with Solomon J. Solomon RA as well as acting as official war artist for The graphic. After the war he enjoyed a flourishing career as a graphic artist designing posters: he is particularly well known for his advertisements for the London Underground

The Wellcome Trust illustrated history of tropical diseases, London 1996, p. 24 (reproduced)

Wellcome Collection 24010i

Copyright was assigned by the artist to the Wellcome organization