Edward william cooke biography

English painter

For other people named Edward Cooke, see Edward Cooke (disambiguation).

Edward William CookeRA FRS FZS FSA FGS (27 March 1811 – 4 January 1880) was an English landscape and marine painter, and gardener.

Life and work

Cooke was born in Pentonville, London, the son of well-known line engraverGeorge Cooke; his uncle, William Bernard Cooke (1778–1855), was also a line engraver of note, and Edward was raised in the company of artists.

He was a precocious draughtsman and a skilled engraver from an early age, displayed an equal preference for marine subjects (in special in sailing ships) and published his "Shipping and Craft" – a series of accomplished engravings – when he was 18, in 1829.

He benefited from the advice of many of his father's associates, notably Clarkson Stanfield (whose principal marine follower he became) and David Roberts. Cooke began painting in oils in 1833, took formal lessons from James Stark in 1834 an