Thomas Beach (1738 – 1806)

• Was an English painter.
• Beach was born at Milton Abbas, Dorset in 1738.

• In 1760, under the patronage of Lord Dorchester's family, he became a pupil of Sir Joshua Reynolds, while at the same time studying at the St. Martin's Lane Academy.

• He then settled at the fashionable resort of Bath, where he was much in demand for his portraits and portrait groups, which were usually of a small size.

• He painted the actress Sarah Siddons several times.

• He was a member of the Incorporated Society of Artists, and a contributor to its exhibitions from 1772 to 1783.

• He exhibited the Royal Academy every year from 1785 until 1790, but not again until 1797, when he was living at Strand-on-the-Green, near Kew in London, and sent a portrait of the Prince of Wales.

• Beach died at Dorchester, Dorset, on 17 December 1806. 

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