12/06/2026
A national blue plaque has been unveiled at the home of Mary Beale to recognise her achievement as one of the first English women to work as a professional artist.
Historic England has installed the plaque at Allbrook Farmhouse in Eastleigh, Hampshire, to mark the career of the portrait painter who lived from 1633 to 1699 and has been described as “ahead of her time”. A spokeswoman for the government body said: “Born in 1633, in Suffolk, Mary Beale was one of the first English women to work as a professional artist, an extraordinary achievement when women were largely excluded from artistic training.
“Unlike many of her male contemporaries, she succeeded without financial support from a wealthy patron. She also trained other women in painting, and she is sometimes cited as the first woman to have written an instructional text for painting in English.
“Many of Mary Beale’s works were misattributed to male artists for generations, including to Peter Lely, and her own son Charles. Her first solo exhibition came only in 1975.
