Mary Beale: 101 Paintings

Mary Beale (1633 – 1699) was an English portrait painter. She became one of the most important portrait painters of 17th-century England, and has been described as the first professional female English painter.

Beale was born in Barrow, Suffolk, the daughter of John Cradock, a Puritan rector. Her mother, Dorothy, died when she was ten. Her father was an amateur painter, and member of the Painter-Stainers' Company, and she was acquainted with local artists, such as Nathaniel Thach, Matthew Sn...