George Cole (artist)

Harvest Rest by George Cole, 1865

George C. Cole (15 January 1810 – 7 September 1883) was an English painter, particularly known for his landscapes and animal paintings.

Cole was born in Portsmouth, to James and Elizabeth Cole.[1] His mother died when he was 9 years old.[1]

According to the artist's grandson, Rex Vicat Cole, he was apprenticed to a ship's painter in the Royal Navy dockyards at Portsmouth.[1][2] He taught himself to paint pictures, at first portraits and animals; he also painted posters for Wombwell's menagerie.[3]

In 1838 Cole's painting The Farm Yard was shown at the Society of British Artists.[1] When he was 30 he changed his focus to landscapes and after moving to London, received instruction from John Wilson, known as "Old Jock", and started exhibiting in 1840.[2][4] He also studied in Holland.[3] His career has been regarded as a good example of the Victorian self-made man: in 1831 he married Eliza Vicat, of an old French Huguenot family, and in the mid-1860s he became a landowner, buying Coombe Lodge, a small estate in Hampshire.[5] He was active in the Society of British Artists and in 1878 became its vice president.[2][4] He died in London, leaving a substantial estate.[6]

After Cole painted the portrait of a Dutch merchant, the sitter refused to pay him, saying it was a bad likeness; so Cole added angel wings and put the painting in a shop window with the title The Flying Dutchman. The man's friends recognised him and laughed; he paid for the painting, and Cole painted out the wings.[4]

He was the father of George Vicat Cole.

Selected works

References

  1. ↑ 1.0 1.1 1.2 1.3 Whitmore, Janet. "George Cole". rehs.com. Rehs Galleries, New York, USA. Retrieved 24 November 2014.
  2. ↑ 2.0 2.1 2.2 "Cole, George", New American Supplement to the Latest Edition of the Encyclopædia Britannica, ed. Day Otis Kellogg, 5 vols New York / Chicago: Werner, 1897, OCLC 4168396, Volume 2, p. 860.
  3. ↑ 3.0 3.1 "Cole, George (1810–1883)", Dictionary of National Biography: Index and Epitome, ed. Sidney Lee, 2nd ed., New York: Macmillan / London: Smith, Elder, 1906, OCLC 14121525, p. 259.
  4. ↑ 4.0 4.1 4.2 Robert Chignell, The Life and Paintings of Vicat Cole, R.A., 3 vols London / New York: Cassell, 1898, OCLC 3247855, Volume 1, pp. 40–42.
  5. ↑ T. J. Barringer, The Cole Family: Painters of the English Landscape 1838–1975, Exhibition catalogue, Portsmouth: Portsmouth City Museums, 1988, ISBN 9780904316070, pp. 28, 52.
  6. ↑ Barringer, p. 28.

External links