Sophia Beale

Sarah Sophia Beale (5 November 1837 – 1920) was a British portrait painter and author who wrote about art and architecture.

Biography

Beale was born in 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. 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 learned in Paris were in considerable demand at the time. 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.