My Dearest Heart

This is the first biography of Mary Beale.Mary Beale is a favorite of the court painter Sir Peter Lely, who visited her studio and praised her work.She was the most prolific professional female artist of the seventeenth century: in one year, 1677, she completed eighty-three portraits.Mary Beale is seen as a feminists icon for women artists because she succeeded in the male world of portrait painting.The largest collection of her portraits are held at Moyses Hall Museum but her work is also on display at Tate Britain, National Portrait Gallery, and Geffrye Museum.