There is no record who the ‘Chinese Lady’ in Ho Khay Beng’s portrait is, but from the demeanour, it can be gleaned from her clean white blouse and facial features and her neatly trimmed hair, that she was a simple and quiet person who liked to keep her home clean and orderly. Trained at the Nanyang Academy of Fine Arts in Singapore (1956-58) and the Rome Academy of Fine Arts in 1965-68, Khay Beng is an artist noted for his half-body portraits, having done portraits of dignitaries such as Malaysia’s founding father and first prime minister Tunku Abdul Rahman; former prime minister Tun Dr Mahathir Mohamed and his wife, Tun Dr Siti Hasmah; Sultan Ahmad Shah of Pahang; and China’s artist Qi Baishi (1864-1975) Inspired to take up art by art pioneer Kuo Ju Ping, Khay Beng took up additional courses in mosaics and sculpture when in Rome, where he had solos at the Galleria Guilla Flavia (1966), Galleria Michelangelo (1967) and Galeria D’ ArteVolschi (1967), and was also featured in an exhibition at the National Art Gallery in Rome in 1967. He was also awarded six gold and silver medals in competitions. Others who followed his Italian art education were Aza Osman and H.H. Lim. Khay Beng taught art at Han Chiang High School in Penang, and awarded the Overseas Chinese Arts Association Prize in 1968. In 1996, he was given a Memorial exhibition by The Art Gallery Penang.