BEALE, Mary

(b. 1633 Barrow, d. 1699 London)

English painter, part of a family of painters. She was the daughter of the Rev. John Cradock (?1595-1654), rector of Barrow and an amateur still-life painter. She may have studied painting under Robert Walker. In 1654 she married Charles Beale (1631-1705) who had a keen interest in painting techniques and artists’ materials and who had a small but choice art collection. Mary Beale set up a ‘paynting room’ in their house in Fleet Street, London, where the Beales attracted a lively intellectual circle including Thomas Flatman, the poet and divine Samuel Woodforde, John Tillotson, Archbishop of Canterbury, and Bishop Edward Stillingfleet. By 1660 Mary Beale had not only given birth to two sons, Bartholomew and Charles but had already gained some reputation as an artist. At this period she painted the rather rudimentary Beale Family (c. 1662; London, Geffrye Museum), her earliest known work. Her early influences seem to have included Robert Walker, the Commonwealth portraitist, and the miniaturist Thomas Flatman.

In 1670 it was decided that she would establish herself as a professional artist; accordingly, she set up a studio in their rented house in Pall Mall. Few women were employed as artists in this period, and her career could only have been undertaken with her husband’s encouragement. She soon attracted a wide clientele from among the gentry and aristocracy, and from their own distinguished circle of friends.

Of great assistance to Mary Beale’s career was the friendship and support of Sir Peter Lely who, as the court painter, already exerted a prevailing influence on her mature style before their acquaintance.

By 1681 Mary Beale’s commissions were beginning to diminish but she busied herself with producing pictures for study and improvement. These informal studies are among her finest works, showing that, when not dependent on laborious commissions and the influence of Lely, she was an artist of individuality, sensitivity, and charm.

Mary Beale’s son, Charles Beale (1660-c. 1714) was also a painter.

Portrait of the Artist's Husband Charles Beale

This painting represents a three quarter length portrait of the artist’s husband Charles Beale (1632-1705), dressed in an open-necked shirt with brown gown, his left hand resting on a large folio book which stands on a table. Charles Beale assumed responsibility for organizing his wife’s commissions and payments. He recorded these details and much other incidental information in a series of notebooks, which provide an exceptional amount of documentation for an artist of this period.

The canvas is contained in a fine 17th-century carved and gilded frame.

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Study of a Head

The sitter of this portrait study is probably Charles Beale, the artist’s youngest son. Mary Beale had two sons, Charles and Bartholomew. Both boys worked in their mother’s studio, assisting her with the painting of draperies, before Bartholomew gained an MB from Clare College Cambridge, thereafter practicing as a physician at Coventry. The younger son, Charles, studied miniature painting under Thomas Flatman, and later produced portraits in his mother’s style.

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