Self-Portrait Holding a Palette

Beale's Self-Portrait Holding a Palette from around 1670 is among the most assertive of her professional self-declarations — the palette in hand explicitly identifies her as a working artist rather than a gentlewoman of rank who painted as an accomplishment. This assertive identification with the craft of painting was unusual for a woman of the period and reflects Beale's determination to be recognized as a professional painter. The work is a key document of women's professional artistic practice in Restoration England.

Beale holds her palette prominently, framing it as a professional symbol rather than a merely incidental prop. The Self-Portrait is handled with the warm, direct naturalism of her mature practice, with careful observation of her own features and the visual argument of the palette serving as the composition's conceptual center.