George Cooke (painter)
George Esten Cooke (1793–1849) was an itinerant United States painter who specialized in portrait and landscape paintings and was one of the South's best known painters of the mid nineteenth century. His primary patron was the industrialist Daniel Pratt, who built a gallery in Prattville, Alabama, solely to house Cooke's paintings. Early life Cooke was born in St. Mary's County, Maryland, and abandoned a fledgling career in business at an early age in order to become a full-time artist. Career After several years of painting portraits for a living, Cooke left for what would become a five-year tour of Europe. His time there was mostly spent learning from and copying the works of the Renaissance master artists, with many of Cooke's copies being sent back to the United States for show or sale. At some time between 1826 and 1830, Cooke made a copy in Paris of The Raft of the Medusa, a monumental painting by Théodore Géricault depicting a notorious incident following a shipwreck. Cooke's smaller version (4' x 6') was shown in Boston, Philadelphia, New York City, and Washington, D.C., to crowds, who knew about the controversy surrounding subject. Reviews of the painting were favorable, and stimulated plays,