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A native of Dorchester, Massachusetts, Alexander Pope quickly established a reputation as a society painter. During the majority of his adolescence, Pope worked at his father's lumber business and carved animals out of wood. He received minor artistic training and considered himself a self-taught artist. However, he did study with William Copley, a noted Boston painter and sculptor. Pope lived the entirety of his life in Boston, painting and sculpting works that revolved around hunting and fishing. According to Alfred Frankenstein, in the book "The Reality of Appearance," Pope was "of the back-slapping, club-going variety who spent his entire life in and around Boston." Pope favored painting still lifes in trompe l`oeil, incorporating hunting themes and wildlife iconography that included deer antlers, canteens, guns, and game bags. In this same style, Pope painted numerous works of dead animals and animals in crates. Later on Pope became a member of the respected art association, the Copley Society of Boston. In 1878 and 1882, he published two significant chromolithographic portfolios of his watercolors, "Upland Game Birds" and "Water Fowl of the United States."