Thomas Beach

THOMAS BEACH Milton Abbas 1737 – 1806 Dorchester Thomas Beach was born at Milton Abbas, Dorset in 1737. His artistic talent came to the attention of Lord Milton, who sent him to London to study with Sir Joshua Reynolds from 1760 to 1762 and also at the St Martin’s Lane Academy. By 1770 Beach had settled in Bath, dividing his time between that city and London, according to the social seasons. His clients included nobility and gentry visiting Bath and several famous actors, including John Henderson (Garrick Club, London), Sarah Siddons and John Philip Kemble, as well as the castrato Giusto Tenducci. Beach exhibited with the Incorporated Society of Artists from 1772 to 1783 and at the Royal Academy 1785-90 and in 1797, where he showed a portrait of the Prince of Wales (Royal Collection). Beach was a fine colourist, noted for his ability to catch a good likeness, and a lively painter of group portraits, such as The Stapleton family, 1789 (Holburne Museum of Art, Bath). In 1798 he retired to Dorchester in Dorset, but continued to paint at least until 1802, when he made a sensitive Self-portrait (National Portrait Gallery, London). He died in Dorchester in 1806.