(1833 - 1893)
George Vicat Cole was born in Portsmouth, the son of the landscape painter, George Cole (1810-1883). He was taught to paint by his father and, as a child, travelled on tours of England, Wales and Moselle (in eastern France), acting as his father’s assistant. He left home in 1855, following a quarrel with his father and later moved to Albury in Surrey, where he painted numerous landscapes. In 1861, he moved back to London, eventually settling at Little Campden House in Kensington. Cole purchased a steam launch named ‘The Blanche’, which he used for entertaining friends and from which he sketched many views of the River Thames. He died in Kensington in 1893 and is buried at Kensal Green Cemetery, London.
