Alexander Cooper (11 December 16091660) was an

English English usually refers to: * English language * English people English may also refer to: Peoples, culture, and language * ''English'', an adjective for something of, from, or related to England ** English national ide ...

Baroque

miniature A miniature is a small-scale reproduction, or a small version. It may refer to: * Portrait miniature, a miniature portrait painting * Miniature art, miniature painting, engraving and sculpture * Miniature (chess), a masterful chess game or probl ...

painter.

Biography

Cooper was born in

London London is the capital and List of urban areas in the United Kingdom, largest city of England and the United Kingdom, with a population of just under 9 million. It stands on the River Thames in south-east England at the head of a estuary dow ...

, the elder brother of the painter Samuel Cooper. He learned painting from

Peter Oliver (painter) Peter Oliver (1594 – December 1648) was an English miniaturist. Born in Isleworth, Middlesex, he was the eldest son of Isaac Oliver, a French-born English portrait miniature painter, probably by his first wife. When he died, Isaac Oliver ...

and was active in London from 1633–1642, whereupon he traveled to

The Hague The Hague ( ; nl, Den Haag or ) is a city and municipality of the Netherlands, situated on the west coast facing the North Sea. The Hague is the country's administrative centre and its seat of government, and while the official capital o ...

.Alexander Cooper
in the

RKD The Netherlands Institute for Art History or RKD (Dutch: RKD-Nederlands Instituut voor Kunstgeschiedenis), previously Rijksbureau voor Kunsthistorische Documentatie (RKD), is located in The Hague and is home to the largest art history center i ...

He is registered there as a member of The Hague

Guild of Saint Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...

from 16441646. After a short stay in Amsterdam, he travelled to Sweden in 1646 to work as

court painter A court painter was an artist who painted for the members of a royal or princely family, sometimes on a fixed salary and on an exclusive basis where the artist was not supposed to undertake other work. Painters were the most common, but the cour ...

for

Queen regnant A queen regnant (plural: queens regnant) is a female monarch, equivalent in rank and title to a king, who reigns '' suo jure'' (in her own right) over a realm known as a "kingdom"; as opposed to a queen consort, who is the wife of a reigni ...

Christina of Sweden Christina ( sv, Kristina, 18 December ( New Style) 1626 – 19 April 1689), a member of the House of Vasa, was Queen of Sweden in her own right from 1632 until her abdication in 1654. She succeeded her father Gustavus Adolphus upon his death ...

.Joan Couper
in ''De groote schouburgh der Nederlantsche konstschilders en schilderessen'' (1718) by Arnold Houbraken, courtesy of the

Digital library for Dutch literature The Digital Library for Dutch Literature (Dutch: Digitale Bibliotheek voor de Nederlandse Letteren or DBNL) is a website (showing the abbreviation as dbnl) about Dutch language and Dutch literature. It contains thousands of literary texts, second ...

According to Houbraken he was considered the best portrait miniaturist in watercolors of his time. He succeeded

David Beck David Beck (or Beek; May 25, 1621December 20, 1656), was a Dutch Golden Age portrait painter. Biography Beck was born in Delft, and was named after his uncle, a well-known poet from Arnhem.Jewish Jews ( he, יְהוּדִים, , ) or Jewish people are an ethnoreligious group and nation originating from the Israelites Israelite origins and kingdom: "The first act in the long drama of Jewish history is the age of the Israelites""The ...

, and that his full name was Abraham Alexander Cooper. He had previously been residing in the United Provinces, but on reaching Sweden entered the service of Christina, and continued to be her miniature painter until 1654, when she resigned the crown. Two years later, Cooper was in

Denmark ) , song = ( en, "King Christian stood by the lofty mast") , song_type = National and royal anthem , image_map = EU-Denmark.svg , map_caption = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = Kingdom of Denmark , establish ...

, carrying out some commissions for

Christian IV of Denmark Christian IV (12 April 1577 – 28 February 1648) was King of Denmark and Norway and Duke of Holstein and Schleswig from 1588 until his death in 1648. His reign of 59 years, 330 days is the longest of Danish monarchs and Scandinavian mon ...

but in 1657 was back again in Stockholm, where he died in the early part of 1660, aged fifty. His works are of great rarity, and the chief are a series representing

Frederick V, Elector Palatine Frederick V (german: link=no, Friedrich; 26 August 1596 – 29 November 1632) was the Elector Palatine of the Rhine in the Holy Roman Empire from 1610 to 1623, and reigned as King of Bohemia from 1619 to 1620. He was forced to abdicate both ...

and Elizabeth of Bohemia as well as their children. Including Charles I Louis, Elector Palatine,

Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Palatine Elisabeth of the Palatinate (26 December 1618 – 11 February 1680), also known as Elisabeth of Bohemia, Princess Elisabeth of the Palatinate, or Princess-Abbess of Herford Abbey, was the eldest daughter of Frederick V, Elector Palatine (who was b ...

, Prince Rupert of the Rhine,

Edward, Count Palatine of Simmern Edward, Prince Palatine of the Rhine (''Eduard, Prinz von der Pfalz'') (5 October 1625 – 10 March 1663), was the sixth son of Frederick V, Elector Palatine (of the House of Wittelsbach), the "Winter King" of Bohemia, by his consort, the Scot ...

and

Sophia of the Palatinate Sophia of Hanover (born Princess Sophia of the Palatinate; 14 October 1630 – 8 June 1714) was the Electress of Hanover by marriage to Elector Ernest Augustus and later the heiress presumptive to the thrones of England and Scotland (later Gre ...

. By the late nineteenth century these portraits were in the possession of

Wilhelm II of Germany , house = Hohenzollern , father = Frederick III, German Emperor , mother = Victoria, Princess Royal , religion = Lutheranism (Prussian United) , signature = Wilhelm II, German Emperor Signature-.svg Wilhelm II (Friedrich Wilhelm Viktor ...

. At the same time some very remarkable portraits were owned by

Wilhelmina of the Netherlands Wilhelmina (; Wilhelmina Helena Pauline Maria; 31 August 1880 – 28 November 1962) was Queen of the Netherlands from 1890 until her abdication in 1948. She reigned for nearly 58 years, longer than any other Dutch monarch. Her reign saw World Wa ...

, and others were in the possession of

Gustav V of Sweden Gustaf V (Oscar Gustaf Adolf; 16 June 1858 – 29 October 1950) was King of Sweden from 8 December 1907 until his death in 1950. He was the eldest son of King Oscar II of Sweden and Sophia of Nassau, a half-sister of Adolphe, Grand Duke of Luxe ...

and various

Swedish Swedish or ' may refer to: Anything from or related to Sweden, a country in Northern Europe. Or, specifically: * Swedish language, a North Germanic language spoken primarily in Sweden and Finland ** Swedish alphabet, the official alphabet used by ...

galleries. He is probably the same painter as ''Ioannes Coepers'' of England ''well-known at the English court'' in

Cornelis de Bie Cornelis de Bie (10 February 1627 – ) was a Flemish ''rederijker'', poet, jurist and minor politician from Lier. He is the author of about 64 works, mostly comedies. He is known internationally today for his biographical sketches of Flemish a ...

's book of painters called Het Gulden Cabinet.

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Cooper, Alexander 1609 births 1660 deaths Painters from London British Baroque painters Jewish painters English Jews English portrait painters Portrait miniaturists Swedish Jews Painters from The Hague Court painters