Richard Couper was the son of noted expatriate American sculptor William Couper.  He was raised at the Villa Ball (home of sculptor Thomas Ball, his grandfather) in Florence, Italy, surrounded by art and the Tuscan landscapes.  After meeting his wife, Mildred Cooper, at art school in Paris, they settled in Rome, Italy, and started a family: son Clive and daughter Rosalind.   Mildred was a musician and used to play the piano at art showings, where visiting tourists and local friends purchased Richards newest landscape paintings and etchings.

With the outbreak of World War One the family fled Italy to New York City, where Richard was one of the first persons to succumb in the 1918 flu epidemic that killed millions.  Although he had some art showings in America, especially at the Montclair Art Museum in New Jersey, Richard was better known in Europe where many of his paintings still exist.