William Bernard Cooke

Cooke, William Bernard, 1778—1855

by Benjamin Colbert

William Bernard Cooke was born in London, the son of Johann Bernhard Buck (later Johann Bernard Cooke), German immigrant confectioner, and Maria Anna White (d. 1821). He was apprenticed to an engraver, William Angus, and married Elizabeth Blundstone (d. 1830) on 12 April 1804. His first major work as an engraver was on John Norris Brewer’s The Beauties of England and Wales (1805) and he continued to specialise in topography, working with artists including J. M. W. Turner and John Constable. Around 1821 he opened a print gallery at 9 Soho Square, London. Besides The Beauties, he contributed to Picturesque Views of the Southern Coast of England (1814-26), James Hakewill’s A Picturesque Tour of Italy (1820), and T. L. Donaldson’s Pompeii (1827). He died of heart disease at his London home, on 2 August 1855.

Sources:

Munday, John. ‘Cooke family (per. c. 1800-1865), engravers, artists, and publishers’. Oxford Dictionary of National Biography. 23 Sept. 2004. Web. 15 June 2022. https://doi.org/10.1093/ref:odnb/65034