We were so excited about this exhibition that we visited it as soon as the doors opened! It is only in recent years that the appreciation of Mary Beale and her artwork has increased. This year, the art world was sent into a frenzy when a sleeper portrait of her son, Bartholomew, appeared at a Colchester Auction House as Italian School. It eventually sold for £100,000 and in doing so, demonstrated how the appeal of Beale’s portraits is…