Bartholomew Beale

As a child, Bartholomew Beale (1656-1709) assisted his mother – the British portraitist Mary Beale (1633-99) – in her busy studio. It was expected that he too would become a painter. The bust upon which Bartholomew rests his hand in this portrait by Peter Lely (1618-80) probably alludes to this imagined artistic future. It appears to represent the ancient Greek poet, Homer. Blind and impoverished, Homer had long been considered the embodiment of artistic integrity, because he was true to his genius and did not seek to gain wealth from his art. As such, Homer would have acted as the perfect model for an aspiring young artist. Yet Bartholomew followed a different path and in 1680 entered Clare College, Cambridge to study medicine. He later settled in Coventry where he practised as a physician.

Mary Beale perhaps first met Lely when he visited her hometown in Suffolk, when she was a girl. Later, when she lived in Covent Garden in London, Lely was a close neighbour and the Beale family visited his studio. By the 1670s, when Lely was the esteemed Principal Painter to King Charles II (1630-85), the Beale family commissioned portraits from him – partly paid for in pigments – so that they could watch the artist at work. At these sittings, which took place over several days, Mary Beale would make many notes. This portrait of Bartholomew may well have been one of these commissions and likely belonged to Mary.