Extracts from the Diary of Mrs. Jane E. Cook 1858-1920.
An Artist’s Diary
[Diaries]. Cook, Jane Elizabeth. Extracts from the Diary of Mrs. Jane E. Cook. 1858-1920. Ca. 1920s.
4to.; light water damage to the bottom right corner of the front endpaper; a.e.g.; brown and tan cloth boards; cloth spine; edgeworn.
Specially transcribed and bound copy of Cook’s diary; not a unique copy but there were likely only a few copies produced for members of Cook’s family. With a frontispiece self-portrait affixed to the third page, in pencil, and signed at the bottom of the page, “Jane E. Robins” (Cook’s maiden name); protected with a leaf of tissue paper. With a 2-inch long tear on the right edge of the paper, not affecting the portrait.
A handwritten “Note,” bound in to the first two pages of the diary explains,
This volume consists of extracts from the Diaries of Mrs. Henry Cook [‘Aunt Jane’ to the family] from the year 1859 to 1920, a few days before her death. The extracts are altered to the extent of being here given in narrative form instead of the true diary fashion in which they were originally made. This has been done as being more convenient to the general reader, and more likely to give a clear impression of the character of the writer. It has involved some slight structural and grammatical rearrangement, but the subject-matter and personal comments remain intact. (p.1)
The Note continues by mentioning that the extracts were selected “which concern the family alone” and that these extracts come together to form a clear impression of Cook’s personality. It is unknown whether the original diaries survive, and if they do, where they are located. The extracts chosen here focus on her husband, children, other family members and friends, and how Cook was affected by World War I. There are, however, scattered mentions throughout the diary about her portrait painting and book illustrating, especially in the first 25 pages.
The early diary entries describe the history of many of Cook’s portrait commissions, discussing the sitter and the scene in detail. After she met Henry Cook and the couple was married, Cook’s entries focus on her life with him, and her work in the Wantage School, where he was a headmaster. Cook had two sons, Theodore and Arthur, and after their births she writes frequently about their development, their health and their schooling; and, sadly, Arthur’s premature death, at age 20, in 1894: “The overwhelming sorrow of losing my youngest son Arthur overshadowed the year 1894. My beloved Arthur!” (p. 159). In the early 1880s, as Henry’s health declined, Cook started painting again, and it is clear from the diary that though she was glad to be painting again, it was bittersweet as it coincided with her husband’s illness and eventual death. She was, in fact, forced to paint to make ends meet, though as later entries reveal Cook was clearly pleased by the favorable reviews and sales of her illustrated books.
Cook writes enthusiastically about her early portrait commissions:
Also for Clarkington, (a photographer in Regent Street for whom I painted miniatures from his photographs, a cheerful kindly soul), several actresses, among others Mrs. Swanborough, Mrs. Howard Paul, and Marie Wilton. The last was no beauty, she had a round face, a retrousse nose, and a slight cast in her eye, but she was the most vivacious little soul I ever met. (p. 1)
Through Clarkington too, I had in 1859 a somewhat unusual commission, viz: - to paint miniatures in oil on ivory of the Mahratta Princes….My work was quite successful; but I was sometimes kept at it so long that I occasionally turned faint. (p. 1-2)
Cook continues by describing a portrait sitting with the youngest Mahratta prince, done in oil on panel:
I was to choose the costume; and I chose a tunic of delicate green, bordered with gems, and a pointed velvet cap of the same colour. When I arrived for the first sitting, I found that every superfluous hair was being removed from the line of his
Print Inquire
