17th-century painter’s farmhouse studio faces the wrecking ball

In the Observer, Vanessa Thorpe reports that the farmhouse of Mary Beale, a British pioneer and a leading female painter in England, is threatened by real estate developers. “Beale’s art, enthusiasts argue, is too significant to allow the loss of a centre dedicated to celebrating her life and work. She is seen as a beacon by feminists and women artists because she succeeded in what had been until then the exclusively male world of portrait painting.” Read more. See images of her work at the Tate Online