Perdita woman: Mary Beale

Biography

Mary Beale was born in 1633, in Barrow, Suffolk. She was the daughter of Rev. John Craddock, the rector of Barrow, and his wife Dorothy Brunton. In March 1652 she married Charles Beale, and went to live with him in Covent Garden, London . The Beales had two surviving sons, Bartholomew and Charles. Mary's husband became deputy clerk of the patents office in about 1660, by which time Mary had begun to practise as a portrait artist. In 1664, the Beales moved to Albrook in Hampshire, and it was while there that Mary wrote her 'Discourse of Friendship' (dated 9 March 1666 [old style] in the British Library copy). In 1670 the family returned to London, and Mary established a studio in Pall Mall. Her subjects included members of the gentry and aristocracy, as well as eminent clergymen such as Edward Stillingfleet, Gilbert Burnet, and John Tillotson (to whose wife the 'Discourse' is addressed). She also painted portraits of herself and her family. Her work was supported by her husband, who organised the financial side of her business and obtained materials for her. Her son Charles trained as an artist in her studio. The leading court painter of the day, Sir Peter Lely, visited her studio, and commended her work. She later studied his techniques, and made much of her living from producing copies of his portraits.

Both Mary Beale and her husband Charles were brought up in moderately Puritan households, and seem to have retained this style of piety throughout their lives. As well as latitudinarian Anglicans such as Stillingfleet and Tillotson, their friends included distinguished nonconformists such as William Bates and Richard Baxter. The poet and Church of England clergyman Samuel Woodford lived in the Beales' household for several years, and composed his Paraphrase Upon the Psalms of David ( 1667) while he was with them.

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

See also new ODNB entry for Beale (nee Cradock) Mary (bap.1633 - d.1699).

Bibliography:

Bibliography

Barber, Tabitha, with a contribution by Mary Bustin, Mary Beale (1632/3-1699): Portrait of a Seventeenth-Century Painter, her Family and her Studio, London, Geffrye Museum exhibition catalogue, 1999
Reeve, Christopher, "Mary Beale", Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, 2004

Biography by Gillian Wright.


British Library: MS Harleian 6828, fols 510r-523v
Discourse of Friendship (1667)
(Author) Mary Beale
Summary entry.


Folger Library: MS V.a.220
Discourse of Friendship (1667)
(Author) Mary Beale
Summary entry.