 |
| Samuel Cooper Portrait of unknown woman ca. 1650 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
 |
| Samuel Cooper Hugh May, architect 1653 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
 |
| Samuel Cooper Frances Stuart, Duchess of Richmond and Lennox ca. 1663-64 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain (unfinished) |
"This sketch [immediately above] is itemised in the list sent to Cosimo de' Medici in 1677 as 'The Duchess of Richmond at 16 or 17 years of age'. It must therefore have been painted c. 1663-64 shortly after Frances Stuart's successful debut at court, and certainly before she caught the smallpox which so disfigured her in 1667. 'It would make a man weep to see what she was like then and what she is like to be, by people's discourse, now' Samuel Pepys wrote on seeing Frances Stuart's picture (probably the present sketch) at Cooper's house in 1668. No completed miniature based on the sketch is known to survive, although Cooper did paint her on a number of other occasions in different poses. Frances Stuart was maid of honor to Catherine of Braganza when Charles II became enamoured of her in 1663. She eloped with Charles Stuart, Duke of Richmond and Lennox and was forced to leave court temporarily, but returned to live out her widowhood at court until her death in 1702."
 |
| Samuel Coopoer Frances Stuart in riding habit ca. 1663 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
 |
| Samuel Cooper Portrait of unknown man in armor 1669 watercolor on vellum Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
 |
| Samuel Cooper Portrait of unknown man in armor ca. 1647-49 watercolor on vellum Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
 |
| Samuel Cooper Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland 1661 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
 |
| Samuel Cooper Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland ca. 1660-61 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain (unfinished) |
"This is one of a group of five unfinished sketches on vellum which remained in Samuel Cooper's studio at his death in 1672 and subsequently entered the Royal Collection, possibly during the reign of Charles II. This sketch was described in 1683 by Francesco Terriesi, an agent acting for Cosimo III de' Medici, as 'Duchess of Cleveland, face and head finished and beautiful, but nothing else' and was priced at £30, slightly lower than the £50 demanded for other sketches from the same group. Presumably the distinction was based on the extent to which the sketch had been finished, for in this case there is only the merest suggestion of a background wash and no details of the costume have been worked up at all. . . . There was certainly considerable demand for portraits of the Duchess of Cleveland, whose influence and status was in the ascendant at the point at which she is shown here by Cooper. Barbara Villiers, Duchess of Cleveland, daughter of William Villiers, 2nd Viscount Grandison, first met Charles II during his exile in The Hague, and had become his mistress by May 1660. She bore the king six children and was created Duchess of Cleveland in 1670 before being supplanted in Charles II's affections by the Duchess of Portsmouth."
 |
| Samuel Cooper George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle ca. 1658 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain (unfinished) |
"George Monck, 1st Duke of Albemarle, son of Sir Thomas Monck of Torrington, made his name as a general during the Civil War. In 1654 he took command of the army in Scotland and it was his support for Charles II and march to London with his forces which led to the Restoration. An Italian commentator described him in 1670 as: 'of the middle size, of a stout and square-built make, of a complexion partly sanguine and partly phlegmatic, as indeed is generally the case with the English; his face is fair, but somewhat wrinkled with age; his hair is grey and his features not particularly fine or noble'."
 |
| Samuel Cooper James Scott, Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch ca. 1665-66 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain (unfinished) |
"James Scott (1649-1685) was the illegitimate son of Charles II. He was born to Lucy Walters at The Hague during the years in exile before the Restoration. Acknowledged as the King's son in 1663 when he was created Duke of Monmouth, he married Lady Anne Scott (whose surname he took) in the same year and was made Duke of Buccleuch. Attempting to establish his claim to the throne after the death of Charles II, he led a rebellion against the Catholic James II, but was defeated at the Battle of Sedgemoor in 1685 and duly beheaded for treason."
– texts are from curator's notes at the Royal Colleciton
 |
| Samuel Cooper James Scott, Duke of Monmouth and Buccleuch ca. 1667 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |
 |
| Samuel Cooper Portrait of unknown woman 1648 watercolor on vellum Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
 |
| Samuel Cooper Portrait of unknown woman ca. 1655-60 watercolor on vellum Victoria & Albert Museum, London |
 |
| Samuel Cooper Portrait of unknown man ca. 1640 watercolor on vellum Royal Collection, Great Britain |