The Self-Taught Master of Motion and Might Born in Greenwich, London, Abraham Cooper rose from humble beginnings to become one of the most respected British animal and battle painters of his era. The son of a tobacconist, his path to artistic greatness was far from conventional. His early years were defined by labor rather than leisure; at thirteen, he found employment at Astley's Amphitheatre, and later served as a groom under the ca…