Family of English engravers and artists. Of German ancestry, the brothers
William Bernard (
1779–1855) and
George (
1781–1834),
were apprenticed to engravers in the late eighteenth century, when English engraving was undergoing stylistic and technical development
along with British landscape painting and illustration.
William Bernard was also an entrepreneur,
who operated a print shop and gallery in
Soho Square,
London (ca.
1821–30). The gallery exhibited English engraving and watercolor,
using items not only from the Cooke shop but also on loan from collectors.
George, also drawing on the assistance of the brothersʼ studio,
was extensively occupied by an aquatint project in botanical illustration,
The Botanical Cabinet (
1817–33).
A son of
George became the marine painter,
Edward William Cooke (
1811–80); and
a cousin of
Edward,
William John Cooke, became an engraver in steel, who contributed advancements in etching that medium
(
Munday, Edward William Cooke, 27, 32–33, 37–38).
The elder brothers oversaw an ambitious number of projects in their shop (
Munday, Edward William Cooke, 34, 39–42),
but their most important joint project was
Picturesque Views of the Southern Coast of England (
1814–26),
based chiefly on drawings by
J. M. W. Turner. Although the project was beset by delays,
in the course of it
Turner learned to treat engraving as an expressive medium in which he could play a collaborative role.
W. B. Cooke was also instrumental in furthering
Turnerʼs contributions to steel engraving, by employing the mezzotint engraver,
Thomas Goff Lupton (
1791–1873), with whom
Turner had already collaborated, and who was making successful breakthroughs
in the practical use of that stubborn but durable medium. For these first
Turner engravings on steel,
Cooke commissioned the series,
The Rivers of England (
1823–27). This series was the occasion of the first serious falling‐out between
Turner
and the Cooke brothers, over the question of whether
Turner would “touch” (make improvements to) plates based on drawings by another artist,
Thomas Girtin (
1775–1802) (see
Shanes, Turnerʼs Rivers, Harbours and Coasts, 5–12).