Artwork of the Month - March 2017
7 March 2017
To mark Women's History Month, March's artwork is Antony Williams's portrait of the Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP, the first woman leader of the Labour Party and Britain's first female Foreign Secretary.
Portrait commissioned by Committee
The portrait was commissioned by the Speaker's Advisory Committee on Works of Art in 2011 in recognition of Beckett's long and distinguished parliamentary career. It went on to win the prestigious Ondaatje Prize at the 121st Annual Exhibition of Royal Society of Portrait Painters in 2012.
Like most of Antony Williams's work it is painted in egg tempera. Unlike oil painting, this painstaking and exacting method does not easily allow for alteration.
Margaret Beckett's parliamentary career
The then-Margaret Jackson first won a seat in the second General Election of 1974. She was soon appointed a junior minister. However, she lost her seat in 1979 and did not return until 1983.
In 1989 Beckett joined the Shadow Cabinet, becoming Shadow Leader of the House under John Smith. After his sudden death in 1994, she was temporary leader of the Labour Party, stepping down when Tony Blair was elected.
Beckett was appointed the first woman President of the Board of Trade, and Secretary of State for the Department of Trade and Industry, in 1997, moving to Leader of the House a year later. She became Secretary of State for Environment, Food and Rural Affairs in 2001.
In 2006 Beckett became the first female Foreign Secretary. This made her only the second woman after Margaret Thatcher to hold one of four Great Offices of State.
In the 2013 Honours List Beckett was made a Dame Commander of the Order of the British Empire.
Further information
- View more images of women in the Parliamentary Art Collection
- Find out how to attend a committee meeting in Portcullis House
- Book a tour of the contemporary collection in Portcullis House
Image: Image: Detail of 'Rt Hon Margaret Beckett MP' by Antony Williams, tempera on board, 2011 (WOA 7203)