Anne Sotheby

This portrait by the English portrait painter Mary Beale depicts Anne Sotheby (née Robinson), the young wife of art collector James Sotheby, whom she married in 1674. Commissioned by her husband, the portrait is recorded in documents from his collection as portraying her "in her 20th year." Anne is shown seated demurely in a landscape, dressed in a gold silk gown and a blue cloak fastened at the shoulder with a diamond brooch.  

Among the few professional female artists of the 17th century, Mary Beale was the most prolific, running an established and well-regarded portrait studio to the extent that Beale became the main financial provider for her family through her professional work. Surviving notebooks from her husband, Charles Beale, reveal that her commercial portraits were categorized by size into four main types: three-quarter length, head and shoulders, "least size but one," and "in little," each with a set price. This portrait of Anne Sotheby is an example of her three-quarter-length works and is documented in James Sotheby’s records, where it is listed as costing £14.50, a price that included the frame.  

The portrait is also referenced in Charles Beale’s 1677 notebook, which provides a rare insight into the workings of a busy London portrait studio. At the time, likely between 1676 and 1677, Mary Beale worked daily (except Sundays), receiving a steady stream of clients for sittings. Each portrait required at least five painting sessions, beginning with the subject’s head, painted from life, followed by the drapery, arms, and background in subsequent sittings over weeks or even months. Although specific sittings for this portrait are not recorded, a payment to Beale’s son Charles for painting the drapery is noted, underscoring the collaborative nature of the Beale studio. Both of her sons served as assistants, contributing to tasks such as "dead coloring" (blocking in the composition) and painting drapery or decorative cartouches around head-and-shoulders portraits.  

P.S. Want to know more about today's artist? Read the story of Mary Beale—England’s first professional female artist!