Mary Beale's paintings are often described as "vigorous" and "masculine". (It was common to praise a woman for her work by calling her "masculine".) The colour is seen as pure, sweet, natural, clear and fresh, although some critics see her colouring as "heavy and stiff". Due to copying Italian masterpieces as practice, Mary Beale is said to have acquired "an Italian air and style". Not too many could compete with her "colour, strength, force, or life". Sir Peter Lely admired Beale's work, saying she "worked with a wonderful body of colour, and was exceedingly industrious." Others criticise her work as weak in expression and finish with disagreeable colours and poorly rendered hands. It is sometimes described as "scratchy" with a "limited colour palette" and too closely imitates the work of Lely. In the decades after her death, art historian George Vertue praised her work by saying "Mrs. Mary Beale painted in oil very well" and "work'd with a wonderfull body of colors".