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George Cole (1810-1883)


George Cole, VPSBA (1810-1883)

Essaying a number of genres early in his career, and most notably animal portraiture, George Cole concentrated on landscape painting from about 1850. His most characteristic works show the rivers, coasts and – especially – the downs of Southern England, enlivened by farm workers and their livestock, and enhanced by atmospheric effects. He and his son, George Vicat Cole, strongly influenced each other, and rivalled each other in popularity.

George Cole was born in London on 15 January 1810, the second child and only son of James Cole and his wife, Elizabeth (née Parker). By the time that his mother died, in 1819, he had moved with his family to Portsmouth. Tim Barringer cites Cole’s grandson, the painter, Rex Vicat Cole, in stating that ‘George Cole’s father dissipated a fortune’, and a James Cole did die in a poor house in Portsmouth in 1847.

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