Washington Bogart Cooper

Washington Bogart Cooper
Self-portrait (1885)
Born	September 18, 1802 Jonesborough, Tennessee
Died	March 30, 1888(1888-03-30) (aged 85) Nashville, Tennessee
Resting place	Mount Olivet Cemetery
Occupation	Painter
Spouse(s)	Ann Litton
Children	James Cooper James Litton Cooper Kate Cooper Joseph Litton Cooper
Relatives	William Brown Cooper (brother)

Washington Bogart Cooper (September 18, 1802 – March 30, 1888) was an American portrait painter, sometimes known as "the man of a thousand portraits".

Washington Bogart Cooper was born near Jonesborough, Tennessee, on September 18, 1802, one of nine children. A brother, William Brown Cooper (1811–1890), also became a painter. As a child, he lived near Carthage, Tennessee and Shelbyville, Tennessee. He studied art with Ralph Eleaser Whiteside Earl in Murfreesboro and settled in Nashville in 1830. In 1831, he went to Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, to study art with Thomas Sully and Henry Inman, and returned to Nashville in 1832.

From 1837 to 1848, Cooper averaged thirty-five portraits a year. His portraits of Tennessee governors, commissioned by the Tennessee Historical Society, can be seen in the Tennessee State Capitol and the Tennessee State Museum in Nashville. He also did portraits for the Methodist Episcopal Church, South, and the Grand Lodge of Free and Accepted Masons of Tennessee, and a portrait of Alexander Campbell. The Tennessee State Museum holds fifty of his portraits. His account book can be found on microfilm in the Tennessee State Library and Archives. Some of his portraits are in Natchez, Mississippi, where he made a trip with his brother.