Alexander Cooper (1609 – 1660)

• Was an English Baroque miniature painter.
• Cooper was born in London, the elder brother of the painter Samuel Cooper.

• He learned painting from Peter Oliver.

• Was active in London from 1633 to 1642, whereupon he traveled to The Hague.

• He is registered there as a member of The Hague Guild of Saint Luke from 1644 – 1646.

• After a short stay in Amsterdam, he travelled to Sweden in 1646 to work as court painter for Queen regnant Christina of Sweden.

• He succeeded David Beck as official court painter when Beck returned to The Hague. 

• His Swedish documents declare that he was Jewish, 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, carrying out some commissions for Christian IV of Denmark.

• In 1657 was back again in Stockholm, where he died in the early part of 1660.

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