Timothy Cole
January 7, 2009 by John Steins
Filed under Discussion
Timothy Cole is another master wood engraver whose technical proficiency amazes me. He spent his entire career in the late 1800′s and early 1900′s interpreting the work of master painters like Constable and Hogarth. I happen to have in my possession his engraving of Mona Lisa, signed by him in pencil. It’s printed on a delicate kind of Japanese tissue and seems very fragile but the impression is perfect and allows for first hand scrutiny on how he made his cuts. Check out the detail on Mona Lisa’s face by clicking on the image to enlarge. And here’s a snippet of a letter he wrote to someone saying that he is trying his second attempt at engraving this image and will do a third if it doesn’t turn out.
What kept his talent in demand by magazine publishers of the day was the fact that photo reproduction technology hadn’t been tuned up enough at that time. When it finally got sorted out, Cole and other engravers like him were out of a job because they were in essence mechanical reproduction artists interpreting the paintings and illustrations of other artists with shades of gray and texture on the engraving block for use in publications.
The actual print is 6.25 inches (16 cm) wide and 9.125 (23 cm) high. Timothy Cole certainly stands out as a master engraver with a gift for interpreting the work of master painters within the humble context of wood engraving.
I read somewhere that he was also an avid nudist. Hope he wasn’t running around the colony with sharpened gravers pointing in the wrong direction.
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whats the value of an original woodblock print from timothy cole
i will send you pictures
thanks
hollants patrick
belgium
Hi John,
I am a great great (great?) niece of Timothy Cole and a visual artist myself. I ran across your blog post about him and just wanted to thank you for giving him such a great write up. I don’t have any of his originals at this point. But, I do collect images of his work from a variety of sources. I did not know he did the Mona Lisa too. Would you be so kind as to send me a digital image of it? Thank you,
Bernadine
Hi Bernadine,
Thanks so much for stopping by and sorry for the late reply. How cool that you are related to Timothy Cole! I was so lucky to acquire the Mona Lisa image which I will send to you.
Cheers,
John
Hello John,
I would love to have the higher resolution of the engraved Mona Lisa by Timothy Cole.
I was lucky to acquire an engraved version by Sanchez Toda, the Spanish engraver famous for creating many postal stamps and bank notes in Spain, long ago.
The scan of his Mona Lisa is in my site:
http://rsiqueira.postbit.com/mona-lisa-leonardo-da-vinci-engraved-by-sanchez-toda.html
I am collector of engraved stamps.
Thanks,
Rodrigo Siqueira
I have my hands on an original proof by timothy cole of moonlight by blakelock. It’s a limited edition signed proof. If you have any information of this work, or any interest in it. Feel free to contact me 1-734-693-1510