| |
Historical Artist - Mary Beale (1633 - 1699)
Mary Beale was the daughter of a clergyman, working mostly in London. Due to her religious
upbringing, she began painting portraits mostly of religious figures. Beale was active in many
of the intellectual circles in London. Knowledge of her career is based upon the records kept by
her husband chronicling payments and other information regarding her sitters. She became one of
the most important portrait painters of 17th century England, and has been described as the
first professional female English painter.
Her father and her husband were both amateur painters, her father being a member of the
Painter-Stainers' Company, and she was acquainted with local local artists, such as Nathaniel
Thach, Matthew Snelling, Robert Walker and Peter Lely. She became a semi-professional portrait
painter in the 1650s and 1660s, working from her home, first in Covent Garden and later in Fleet
Street. Her later work is heavily influenced by Lely, being mainly small portraits or copies of
Lely's work. Her work became unfashionable after his death in 1680. A son, Bartholomew, died
young. A second son, another Bartholomew, painted portraits before taking up medicine. A third
son, named Charles after his father, was also a painter, specialising mainly in miniatures. She
is buried at St. James's, Piccadilly. Her husband died in 1705.
Contemporary United Kingdom Artists
Art Galleries in the United Kingdom
|
