Thomas Cooper Gotch was born in Kettering in Northamptonshire in the mid 19th Century. Gotch was associated with the Pre-Raphaelite movement and the Newlyn school of art. Gotch was the brother of the architect John Alfred Gotch.

Thomas Cooper Gotch studied art in London and Antwerp before he married and moved to Paris. Returning to England, Gotch and his wife settled in Newlyn, Cornwall where he joined a growing group of "Newlyn" Artists. He first made paintings of natural, pastoral settings before immersing himself in the romantic, Pre-Raphaelite romantic style.