Mary Beale gets a Blue Plaque at Allbrook Farmhouse
Historic England has installed a blue plaque for Mary Beale at Allbrook Farmhouse, in Hampshire, where she lived during the outbreak of plague in London. It was at Allbrook that Beale turned to writing and composed a progressive discourse on friendship, emphasising equality between husband and wife.
During the unveiling, Philip said, "Set aside, for a moment, Mary Beale’s near singularity as a woman artist in a male-dominated profession. What is most striking is the sheer industry of her portrait practice. Academics, divines, and a wide swathe of the professional middle classes and gentry were captured by her brush through a dynamic family enterprise, with Beale at its centre, her husband working behind the scenes, and her two sons helping to complete compositions. She did for this stratum of society what Sir Peter Lely did for the aristocracy."
The unveiling of this plaque marks an important moment in the continuing reassessment of Beale’s remarkable contribution to British art history.
