398 JOURNAL OF THE PLYMOUTH INSTITUTION. 
poetic. Whether in the glowing quiet sunset, or the grey stormy 
morning, whether in repose or action, the same high aim for 
idealistic effect was ever prominent. His skies were all studies 
from Nature, and so justly did he estimate their importance, that 
he was often weeks in deciding on the sky suitable to a particular 
sketch. He kept a long-shaped book of skies, many of which he 
painted from his studio window. These sky studies form pictures 
of themselves, and I am glad to say that some of them at least 
have found their way into the studios of our local artists. 
In his earlier career he did not confine himself to any particular 
class of subject, but he soon discovered that his fullest strength 
lay in sea-painting, and in sea-coast subjects, in which it is not too 
much to say he has never been surpassed. His wave drawing in 
rough seas would certainly challenge comparison with any artist 
living or dead, and those who have been most renowned in this 
particular branch of art (amongst whom I may mention the name 
of Clarkson Stanfield, r.a., and Mr. Duncan) have paid the 
warmest tribute to his excellence. It must be remembered that 
although a rolling wave can be seen, its rapid movement precludes 
its form being drawn with accuracy. An impression of the form 
is made on the eye, and can only be conveyed to paper by the 
feeling of the artist. Cook felt his rough seas and wave forms, 
and expressed their characteristics through such feeling. 
Considering how incomplete was any education he gave himself 
(and he certainly had no other) of figure drawing, it is remarkable 
how he attained the amount of knowledge he did of the human 
figure. He had never gone through a course of drawing from the 
cast, and then entered a Life School, as all young artists now do, 
but he had, nevertheless, given some study to anatomy, and had 
copied some good engravings of figure subjects, lent him by Col. 
H. Smith. His figures were always judiciously introduced and 
placed, and well drawn. 
Many may have passed Cook’s drawings in the London Gallery 
with scarcely a notice. There was nothing in them to arrest the 
attention of an ordinary observer; but once stop before them, and 
look well at their careful finish—finish without pre-Raphaelitism ; 
at their breadth—breadth without blot; at their mystery without 
confusion ; and then compare them with most works of contem- 
porary artists, and their full value may be estimated. Time and 
practice may give an artist a hand enviable for its facility ; but no 
