Isabella Beetham

[1] As a result of his decision to take up acting and marry a woman of a different faith, Edward changed his surname to Beetham to avoid embarrassing his parents.

Isabella created a frontispiece with a mezzotint portrait of Edward, with images reflecting "Laughter", "Gravity", and "Misery".

[6]: 104 The Beetham's moved into a quaint house with three gables on Chancery Lane, just off Fleet Street, to accommodate the growing family.

[6]: 105 A tale circulated in the 18th century of a young woman from Corinth who, based on the shadow cast by a lamp, drew the outline of her lover's face on the wall.

This story, The Corinthian Maid, of a potter's daughter helped to generate interest in silhouette painting in that period.

Auguste Edouart was a prolific and well-regarded silhouette cutter, who was born in France and worked in England before settling in the United States.

Women had hair styles and hats typical for the time period; Men had cravats without bows.

[5] 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.

[1] A studio was established in 27 Fleet Street[5] for Isabella to paint her silhouettes, and on the lower floors Edward sold washing machines using his patented wooden, rather than stone, mangles.

[9] She also employed William Gardiner,[3] who was an actor, artist, scene-painter, and engraver who put finishing touches on the portraits.

Mrs Beetham sometimes used as many as twenty-four different strokes to show only one of the curls on the à la conseilleur and 'three ringlets' hair-styles which were coming into fashion for women by 1786.

She painted the long tresses at the back with similar skill against a wash background, also used for curls near the face to give depth to the portrait.

On profiles of men also, she painted hair in sweeping lines, and many examples show little strokes at the back of the head, outside the main image, which give a 'brushed-back' effect.

Ribbons on her profiles of men are most easily recognizable from the slight variations in shape shown on the illustrated examples.

[9] In 1792, Beetham advertised that she created detailed likenesses—with unrivalled taste and elegance—on gold and silver decorated glass, composition, paper, and ivory.

[2] Isabella lived her later years at 9 The Polygon, a group of houses at Clarendon Square, Somers Town, London (now between St Pancras and Euston stations).

Her daughters also lived in the Somers Town, an area settled by French refugees during their homeland's revolution and was mostly inhabited by people of the Roman Catholic faith and low incomes.