Cole studied art first under Isaac Craig, in Italy, then in Paris from 1892 to 1901 with Jean Paul Laurens and Jean-Joseph Benjamin-Constant at the Académie Julian,[2][3] and later at the École des Beaux-Arts.

His painting of Dante was exhibited in the 1900 Paris Salon,[2] and more artwork was displayed at the 1901 Pan-American Exposition in Buffalo, New York.

[5] His first wife died in 1961, and Cole married Anita Rio (born 1873), a singer, and the widow of painter Eugene Higgins, in 1962.

[9] Cole's work is in the permanent collections of London's National Portrait Gallery and the Brooklyn Museum,[1] and his papers are stored at the Smithsonian Institution.

[2] Cole was subsequently verified as having been the oldest living man following the death of 111-year-old Norwegian skier Herman Smith-Johannsen, on January 5, 1987.