Mary Beale

Mary Beale
Mary Beale - self-portrait

Mary Beale (née Cradock) (26 March 1633–1699) was an English portrait painter. She became one of the most important portrait painters of 17th century England, and has been described as the first professional female English painter.

Contents

Life and work

Beale was born in Barrow, Suffolk, the daughter of John Cradock, a Puritan rector. Her mother, Dorothy, died when she was 10. Her father was an amateur painter, and member of the Painter-Stainers' Company, and she was acquainted with local artists, such as Nathaniel Thach, Matthew Snelling, Robert Walker and Peter Lely. In 1652, at the age of 18, she married Charles Beale, a cloth merchant from London - also an amateur painter.

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.

The family moved to a farmhouse in Allbrook, Hampshire in 1665 due to financial difficulties, her husband having lost his position as a patent clerk, and also due to the Great Plague of London. For the next five years, a 17th-century two storey timber-framed building was her family home and studio. She returned to London in 1670, where she established a studio in Pall Mall, with her husband working as her assistant, mixing her paints and keeping her accounts. She became successful, and her circle of friends included Thomas Flatman, poet Samuel Woodford, the Archbishop of Canterbury John Tillotson, and Bishops Edward Stillingfleet and Gilbert Burnet. She became reacquainted with Peter Lely, now Court Artist to Charles II. 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.

Mary Beale died in 1699 in Pall Mall, and was buried at St. James's, Piccadilly in London. Her husband died in 1705.

Bartholomew Beale (1656-1709). (Peter Lely, circa 1670)

Of her children, a son, Bartholomew, died young. A second son, also called Bartholomew, painted portraits before taking up medicine. A third son, named Charles after his father, was also a painter, specialising mainly in miniatures.

References

Further reading

  • Barber, Tabitha. Mary Beale (1632/3-1699): Portrait of a seventeenth-century painter, her family and her studio (Geffrye Museum Trust, 1999)

External links


Wikimedia Foundation. 2010.

Игры ⚽ Поможем написать курсовую

Look at other dictionaries:

  • Mary Beale — Autoportrait (vers 1675–80) Nom de naissance Mary Cradock Naissance …   Wikipédia en Français

  • Mary Beale — Nacimiento 26 de marzo de 1633 Gran Bretaña Fallecimiento 1699 Nacionalidad británica Educación autodidacta …   Wikipedia Español

  • Beale — Family name name=BealeBeale is a surname (family name or last name), and may refer to:*Anthony Beale (b. 1967), American politician, alderman in Chicago *Charles Lewis Beale (1824 1900), member of U.S. House of Representatives from New York… …   Wikipedia

  • Mary Smith (EastEnders) — Mary Smith EastEnders character Portrayed by Linda Davidson Duration 1985–88 First appearance 5 March 1985 Last appearance …   Wikipedia

  • Mary Flaherty (EastEnders) — Mary Flaherty EastEnders character Portrayed by Melanie Clark Pullen Duration 1997–99 First appearance 22 September 1997 …   Wikipedia

  • Beale M. Schmucker — Beale Melanchthon Schmucker (August 26, 1827 ndash; 1888) was an American Lutheran leader and liturgical scholar.Born in Gettysburg, Pennsylvania, the son of Samuel Simon Schmucker and Mary Catherine Steenbergen, Schmucker collaborated with A. T …   Wikipedia

  • Mary Seton — (1549–1615) was a Scottish courtier and later a nun. She was the daughter of George Seton, 6th Lord Seton, and Marie Pieris, a French born lady in waiting to Marie de Guise, consort of King James V of Scotland. As a child, Mary Seton became a… …   Wikipedia

  • Mary Louise Wilson — Born November 12, 1932 (1932 11 12) (age 78) New Haven, Connecticut, U.S. Occupation Actress Years active 1963– Mary Louise Wilson (born November 12, 1932) is an American stage, film and television actress …   Wikipedia

  • Mary Ann Smith — is alderman of the 48th ward of the City of Chicago; she was appointed in 1989 by Mayor Richard M. Daley to replace Kathy Osterman;[1] she was first elected in 1991. On February 27, 2007 she was re elected to her fifth full term of office.[2]… …   Wikipedia

  • Beale family — The Beale/Fowler family is a fictional family in the popular BBC soap opera EastEnders . For years before the show began, the family consisted of Albert and Lou Beale and their three children, Kenny and twins Pauline and Pete. Before the show… …   Wikipedia

Share the article and excerpts

Direct link
Do a right-click on the link above
and select “Copy Link”