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Sarah Sophia Beale (5 November 1837 – 1920) was a British portrait painter and author who wrote about art and architecture.
Beale was born in central London. Her father was the surgeon Lionel John Beale and her mother was Frances Smith. Her brother, Lionel Smith Beale, was a surgeon and her sister, Ellen Brooker Beale, was also an artist and the two sisters would often work together. Both Sophia and Ellen Beale attended
Biography
Beale was born in central London. Her father was the surgeon Lionel John Beale and her mother was Frances Smith. Her brother, Lionel Smith Beale, was a surgeon and her sister, Ellen Brooker Beale, was also an artist and the two sisters would often work together. Both Sophia and Ellen Beale attended Queen's College, London
Queen's College is an independent school for girls aged 11–18 with an adjoining prep school for girls aged 4–11 located in the City of Westminster, London. Founded in 1848 by theologian and social reformer Frederick Denison Maurice along wit ...
and took lessions at a private art school run by the artist Matthew Leigh. They spent considerable periods in the National Gallery and the British Museum copying Old Masters and antiquities. From 1860 to 1867 the two sisters had a studio in Covent Garden
Covent Garden is a district in London, on the eastern fringes of the West End, between St Martin's Lane and Drury Lane. It is associated with the former fruit-and-vegetable market in the central square, now a popular shopping and tourist si ...
on Long Acre. In 1869, and again in 1872, Sophia Beale travelled to Paris where she studied at Charles Joshua Chaplin
Charles Joshua Chaplin (8 June 1825 – 30 January 1891) was a French painter and printmaker who painted both landscapes and portraits. He worked in techniques such as pastels, lithography, watercolor, chalk, oil painting and etching. He wa ...
's studio and also worked as a supervisor at another studio. When she returned to London, Beale used the money she had earned to open an art school on Albany Street near Regent's Park. The techniques she had learnt in Paris were in considerable demand at the time. In 1889 she was among the 2,000 signatories to a declaration supporting women's suffrage and she also advocated for the Royal Academy
The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...
and the universities to allow greater access to women. Although during her career the major exhibition space open to Beale was the Sussex Street gallery of the Society of British Artists where she showed some thirty works, she also had eight works accepted by the Royal Academy between 1863 and 1887. Between 1868 and 1882 she exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy and with the Society of Women Artists from 1860 to 1881. In 1908 Beale published her autobiography, ''Recollections of a Spinster Aunt''.
Published works
Published works by Beale include, * ''The Louvre, a complete and concise handbook to all the collections of the museum, being an abridgement of the French official catalogues'', 1883. * ''The Amateur's Guide to Architecture'', 1887. * ''The Churches of Paris from Clovis to Charles X'', 1893. * ''Recollections of a Spinster Aunt'', 1908.References
External links
{{DEFAULTSORT:Beale, Sarah Sophia 1837 births 1920 deaths 19th-century English women artists British writers British suffragists English autobiographers English women painters Painters from London People educated at Queen's College, London Sibling artists Women of the Victorian era