page_title: Isabella Beetham
section_title: Early career
hierarchical_section_title: Isabella Beetham / Early career
caption_attribution_description: English: Isabella Beetham, Miss Chambers, Ivory miniature portrait, after 1782, Metropolitan Museum of Art
context_page_description: Isabella Beetham was an 18th-century British silhouette artist. She began her career by cutting the silhouette images. After studying painting with successful miniature portraitist John Smart, Beetham painted silhouettes to be framed or miniatures were made for jewelry. From 1785 to 1809, she had a business on 27 Fleet Street in London, where she produced silhouettes of men and women. She is considered one of the great 18th century silhouette artists, along with John Miers and Auguste Edouart.
context_section_description: Isabella developed a talent for making silhouette portraits, first called profiles and shades, which are a solid outline of an image. Initially, Beetham made the portraits by cutting the images on card and paper. She illustrated details, such as frills, on the silhouette with tiny slashes. Her work routinely has a bust-line finish that differentiates her work from other artists. Women had hair styles and hats typical for the time period; Men had cravats without bows.
  Frames, generally oval shaped, were made of giltwood, pearwood, papier-mache, and brass. The frames were often larger than those used by her competitors. A lengthy trade label was affixed on the back of her work after 1774, that conveyed that she produced portraits of loved family members and friends to help people cope with their loss. The message on the label was so large, though, that much of the verbiage was lost when the label was cut to fit the portrait. Over her career, she had seven trade labels, her cut silhouettes per produced using her first three trade labels.
  She then studied portrait painting in London with John Smart, who was a successful miniature portrait artist. Beetham painted silhouette portraits on a white background, such as plaster, and often on glass. She made miniature portraits for jewelry. Edward learned a new way to gild glass near Venice in Murano, Italy for his wife's business in 1784 to 1785.
caption: Isabella Beetham, Miss Chambers, ivory miniature portrait, after 1782, Metropolitan Museum of Art
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