Background
Timothy was born on April 6, 1852, in London, United Kingdom. His family emigrated to the United States in 1858.
Timothy was born on April 6, 1852, in London, United Kingdom. His family emigrated to the United States in 1858.
He was brought to New York at the age of five and there attended public schools. In 1868 he was apprenticed to a wood engraver in Chicago, but after the disastrous fire of 1871 he returned to New York and for two years worked with the Aldine Press.
He established himself in Chicago, where in the great fire of 1871 he lost everything he possessed. In 1883 Cole was commissioned by the Century to undertake in Europe what proved to be his magnum opus.
This consisted of a whole series of engraved reproductions of European Old Masters, a task that required 26 years and terminated only in 1910.
Later, Cole was commissioned by the Century to engrave a similar series of the masterpieces in American galleries; but in 1913 a change in the magazine's policies broke Cole's long connection with it, and thereafter he was obliged to seek his market among connoisseurs.
(Excerpt from Old Spanish Masters Engraved About the Publ...)
(Leopold is delighted to publish this classic book as part...)
(This is a pre-1923 historical reproduction that was curat...)
In 1906 he was elected into the National Academy of Design as an Associate Academician, and became a full Academician in 1908.
Timothy had a son: Alphaeus Philemon Cole.
