Alec Cobbe | |
|---|---|
| Born | Richard Alexander Charles Cobbe (1945-01-09)9 January 1945 Dublin, Ireland |
| Died | 31 March 2026(2026-03-31) (aged 81) Surrey, England |
| Occupations | Designer, artist and musical instrument collector |
Richard Alexander Charles Cobbe, CVO (9 January 1945 – 31 March 2026) was an Irish designer, artist, musical instrument collector and decorator.1
Life and career
A member of the Cobbe family, Cobbe was born in Dublin on 9 January 1945.2 He moved to Newbridge House with his family upon the death of his father.3
Cobbe studied medicine at Corpus Christi College, Oxford, and underwent his clinical training at the London Hospital. Cobbe gave up his study of medicine to become a painter and trained as an art conservator at the Tate. From the early 1980s Cobbe advised on the redecoration of historic British country houses.4 Solo exhibitions of his paintings have been held in Paris at the Galerie de Staël, and in London at the Maclean Gallery, the Bury Street Gallery, and the Royal Danish Embassy.5
He donated his design archive to the Victoria and Albert Museum (V&A) and an exhibition was held at the V&A of his work in 2013.6
The Cobbe Collection, Cobbe's collection of historic musical instruments is kept at Hatchlands Park, a National Trust property that Cobbe leased from 1984.7
On 25 July 1970 he married the Honourable Isabel Anne Marie Henrietta Dillon, daughter of the 20th Viscount Dillon. He was uncle to the Olympic gold medal winning rower Constantine Louloudis.
On 13 February 2026 Cobbe was appointed a Commander of the Royal Victorian Order (CVO).8. He died at home on 31 March 2026, at the age of 81.92
References
References
- "Alec Cobbe". Apollo magazine. Retrieved 9 April 2014.
- "Alec Cobbe obituary: Anglo-Irish aesthete". The Times. 9 April 2026. Retrieved 10 April 2026.
- Bryant 2013, pp. 85
- Bryant 2013, pp. 86
- John 1996, pp. 57
- Bryant 2013, pp. 8
- Bryant 2013, pp. 41
- "No. 64998". The London Gazette. 23 February 2026. p. 3186.
- Cobbe The Telegraph
Sources
Sources
- Bryant, Julius (2013). Alec Cobbe: Designs for Historic Interiors. VA. ISBN 978-1-851777-723.
- John, Richard (1996). Creations and Recreations Alec Cobbe: Thirty Years of Design and Painting. PoWIA. ISBN 9781898465133.
Further reading
Further reading
Cobbe, Alec (2019). Birds, Bugs and Butterflies: Lady Betty Cobbe's 'Peacock' China: A Biography of an Irish Service of Worcester Porcelain. Woodbridge, UK: Boydell Press. ISBN 9781783274727.