Mary Beale (1633–1699)

• She was an English portrait painter.
• She was part of a small band of female professional artists working in London.
• Beale became the main financial provider for her family through her professional work – a career she maintained from 1670/71 to the 1690s.
• Mary Beale was born in the rectory of Barrow, Suffolk.
• She was baptised on 26 March by her father John Cradock.
• John Cradock was also an amateur painter, who may have taught Mary how to paint.
• Mary Cradock married Charles Beale on 8 March 1652 at the age of eighteen.
• Charles Beale was a Civil Service Clerk at the time, but eventually became Mary's studio manager once she became a professional painter.
• Throughout their marriage, Mary and Charles worked together as equals and as business partners, which was not often seen at the time.
• Mary Beale died on 8 October 1699 at the age of sixty-five.
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