Hereward Lester Cooke

Born in Princeton, NJ in 1916, Hereward Lester Cooke studied at Oxford University, the Art Students League (under George Bridgman, Yale University of Fine Art and Princeton Graduate School, where he received his Ph.D. While Cooke was a well regarded American painter, he was better known for his written works on art history, such as Painting Lessons from the Great Masters, published in 1967. He was curator of Painting at the National Gallery of Art from 1961 to 1973, having started his career there in 1956. As curator, he was involved Expert Opinions section of the gallery, where owners of artworks could come and have their pieces appraised or identified. He became a well known authority on fakes and forgeries, some times called the "Sherlock Holmes of the Art World." Cooke was influential in government sponsored art programs. He helped select artists for the Environmental Protection art program and served as art advisor the NASA for ten years. He was appointed director of the American pavillion at the Venice Biannual International Art Exhibition, was artist in residence at Princeton for four years and won the Prix de Rome and a Fullbright scholarship. In 1940 he won the American Beaux Arts prize for murals.