Samuel Cooper (1608–1672)

• Sometimes spelt Samuel Cowper, was an English miniature painter.
• He is believed to have been born in London, and was a nephew of the painter John Hoskins, by whom he was educated.
• He lived in Henrietta Street, Covent Garden.
• The writer Samuel Pepys, described him as an excellent musician, playing the lute well, and also a good linguist, speaking French with ease.
• He married a woman named Christiana, and they had one daughter.
• John Evelyn refers to him in 1662, when, on the occasion of the visit that Evelyn paid to King Charles II, Cooper was drawing the royal face and head for the new coinage.
• An example of his handwriting can be seen at the back of one of his miniatures in the Welbeck Abbey collection, and one of his drawings in black chalk is in the University Gallery at the University of Oxford.

• His self-portrait is in Morgan's collection.

• He is buried in St Pancras Old Church in London.

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