John Cooke Bourne

John Cooke Bourne was a British artist, engraver and photographer, best known for his lithographs showing the construction of the London and Birmingham Railway and the Great Western Railway.

His set of prints were each published as separate book, and became classic representations of the construction of the early railways. Prints were often hand coloured for a vivid picture of events.

John Cooke Bourne was born in London, where his father worked as hat-maker in Covent Garden. He was related to the engraver George Cooke, who was his godfather, and became befriended with his son Edward William Cooke, whose uncle, William Bernard Cooke (1778-1855), was also a line engraver of note. After general education, Bourne became a pupil of the landscape engraver John Pye, who had specialised in illustrations for popular annuals and pocket-books. Bourne was further influenced by the work of Thomas Girtin and John Sell Cotman.

When in the early 1830s near his home the construction started for the London and Birmingham Railway, the first main-line railway to enter London, this became Bourne's major source of inspiration. In 1836 Bourne started making drawings of the construction sides as subjects of professional study. These drawings were published in 1838/39 in a book in four volumes, with an accompanying text by John Britton. Late 1840 he lithographed some drawings for Robert Hay's publication, entitled Illustration of Cairo. Bourne continued to draw railway scenes, and in the 1840s became associate with Charles Cheffins In 1846Cheffins commissioned Bourne to produce a series of drawings about the Great Western Railway, which connected London with the southwest and west of England and much of Wales. This led to the 1846 publication of History of the Great Western Railway. Bourne also draw the illustrations for Bennet Woodcroft's A sketch of the origin and progress of steam navigation from authentic documents. with were lithographed by Cheffins.

At the end of the 1840s Bourne started working for Charles Blacker Vignoles, who was employed to construct the Nicholas Chain Bridge in Kiev over the Dnieper River. He travelled to Russia, and drew and later photographed its construction until its completion in 1853. In that year he made some pictures for the new 4th edition of Bennet Woodcroft's A Sketch of the Origin and Progress of Steam Navigation.

Bourne kept working in Russia as artist in residence for another decade. In the year 1852 he travelled together with Roger Fenton to Moscow and St Petersburg, which resulted in his painting of the Moscow Kremlin (see image). He stayed in Russia in total for a period of twelve years as illustrator and photographer, before returning to England.

Bourne exhibited his work in the Royal Photographic Society in 1854, the Royal Academy of Arts in 1863 and the Royal Society of British Artists in 1865. Back in England in 1866, he married Catherine Cripps, and settled in Teddington. He died in 1896 at Brentford, a town in West London.

Bourne's major works were his drawings of the construction of the London and Birmingham Railway, and of the operations of the Great Western Railway, which were printed in 1838/39 and 1846. After these works he worked in Russia for over a decade.

Text courtesy of Wikipedia, 2023