Mary Beale

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Mary Beale, self-portrait, oil on canvas c. 1665. Owned by the National Portrait Gallery (London)

Mary Beale (born Cradock ; * around 1633 in Barrow ; Suffolk ; † 1699 in London ) was an English portrait painter who is considered the first professional painter in England. She was one of the best painters of the 17th century and made portraits of the most important people of her time, e. B. King Charles II and Archbishop John Tillotson . In modern times, she became better known again due to an exhibition shown at the Geffrye Museum in 1975 .

Life

Mary Beales' husband, Charles Beale, circa 1663 Oil on canvas by Mary Beales. Owned by the National Portrait Gallery (London)

Mary Beale was born as the second child of the Puritan pastor John Cradock (1595-1652) from Barrow and his wife Dorothy Brunton (or Brinton) († 1643). Mary Beale's exact date of birth is not known, but the date of her baptism is known to be March 16, 1633. Her father was a hobby artist and a member of the Painter-Stainer's Company . He presumably trained her in painting. As early as 1658, at the age of about 25, Mary Beale had earned a reputation as a painter, because in Sir William Sanderson ’s The Most Excellent Art of Painting from the same year she was mentioned as one of three painters. She lived with her husband Charles Beale first in Covent Garden in London , then from around 1660 in Hind Court in London's Fleet Street , after Charles had taken over his father's post as deputy clerk in the patent office. With their sons Bartholomew and Charles, who had been born in the meantime, they moved to Allbrook in Hampshire in 1664 due to the rampant plague .

It was not until 1670 that Mary Beale returned to London with her family. This time she decided to work as a professional painter and set up a studio in her apartment building in Pall Mall . Her clientele soon included many nobles, clergymen and members of the Royal Society. At that time she charged £ 5 for a half-length portrait and £ 10 for a three-quarter portrait. Her husband supported her as an artist by taking care of the order acceptance, the fees and the preparation of her artist's colors. His extensive diaries from the years 1672 to 1681 contain information about these activities as well as many other details about Mary Beale's work and activity. The documents thus provide a unique insight into the life of an artist for the time. From the notes of her friend Samuel Woodforde, the picture emerges of a personable and hospitable woman who ran a puritanical household and donated 10% of her annual income to the poor. Her sons also helped her in her studio and supported her in painting curtains and backgrounds.

In addition to painting, Mary Beale was also known as a poet among her contemporaries, and Samuel Walpole wrote several poems in her honor under the name Belasia . During her time in Allbrook she wrote her "Essays on friendship" ( Essays on the friendship ), as in setting out its views on equality between man and woman, both in friendship and in marriage. She later employed female assistants in her London studio.

She died in her Pall Mall home in 1699 and was buried under the sacrament table in St. James's Church in Piccadilly on October 8th.

Work and style

Many works by Mary Beale, including a large number of self-portraits , have been preserved. The largest collection of her paintings is in the Manor House Museum in Bury St. Edmunds . She made her paintings in oil, watercolors and chalk, typical for her style are warm, brown tones, extraordinary color purity and an oval false frame made of painted stone.

The court painter Peter Lely , who visited her in her studio around 1672 and "highly recommended" her , had a great influence on Mary Beale's style . He later allowed her to study his techniques and she began to make copies of his portraits, which she sold for a profit. However, she often softened the erotic undertone of many of his paintings of court beauties.

Around 1681 Mary Beale began to devote herself increasingly to project studies for the purpose of self-improvement. The number of her commissioned works slowly decreased and she now experimented e.g. B. with casual poses ( A Young Girl in profile , around 1681) and alternative canvases. Her work from this period is characterized by individuality and sensitivity, without the restrictions of commissioned work.

Marriage and offspring

Bartholomew Beale, ca 1670. Oil on canvas by Peter Lely

On March 8, 1652, Mary Cradock married the Puritan Charles Beale (baptized 1631, died 1705) of Walton Moore , Buckinghamshire. The marriage resulted in two sons.

  • Bartholomew Beale (baptized 1656, † 1709), received training in his mother's studio, but then studied medicine at Clare College in Cambridge (graduation 1682) and became a doctor in Coventry . He married Ann Naylor († 1725/26) and was buried on May 17, 1709 in St. Michael's in Coventry.
  • Charles Beale (christened 1660, † probably 1726) was baptized in London on 23 June 1660 and studied in the studio of his mother's paintings, as well as Thomas Flatman the miniature painting . Some of his works can be seen today at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London. His red chalk sketches of family members and friends, created between 1679 and 1681, are unique in this period due to their informal and direct approach. By 1688 he had given up miniatures and devoted himself to full portraits. The date of his death is unknown.

literature

  • Christopher Reeve: Beale, Mary (bap. 1633, d. 1699) In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
  • Robert Edmund Graves: Beale, Mary In: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 4
  • Claudia Meifert: Beale, Mary . In: General Artist Lexicon . The visual artists of all times and peoples (AKL). Volume 8, Saur, Munich a. a. 1993, ISBN 3-598-22748-5 , p. 36 f.

Web links

Individual evidence

  1. ↑ a b c d Robert Edmund Graves: Beale, Mary In: Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 4
  2. ↑ a b c d e f g h i j k l m Christopher Reeve: Beale, Mary (bap. 1633, d. 1699) In: Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004
personal data
SURNAME Beale, Mary
ALTERNATIVE NAMES Cradock, Mary (maiden name)
BRIEF DESCRIPTION English portrait painter
DATE OF BIRTH 1633
PLACE OF BIRTH Barrow
DATE OF DEATH 1699
Place of death London