John Hodges Benwell (1764–1785) was an English genre painter,[1] some of whose works became well known through engravings.

Life

Benwell was born at Blenheim Palace in Oxfordshire where his father was under-steward to George Spencer, 4th Duke of Marlborough. He was a pupil of an obscure portrait painter called Sanders, who lived in Great Russell Street in Bloomsbury, London, but also studied at the Royal Academy Schools, where he was awarded a silver medal in 1782. He later taught drawing at Bath, and executed a few small oval drawings in a technique which combined watercolour and pastel. His works have suffered much from the ravages of time.[1]

He returned to London[1] and exhibited a classical subject, Glycaera at the Tomb of her Mother,[2] at the Royal Academy in 1784, but died of tuberculosis the next year, and was buried in Old St. Pancras churchyard.[1]

Several of his works became well known from engravings. They included two scenes from "Auld Robin Gray"; the "Children in the Wood", engraved by William Sharp; and A St. Giles's Beauty and A St. James's Beauty, both engraved by Bartolozzi.[1]

References

  1. 1 2 3 4 5  This article incorporates text from a publication now in the public domain: Graves, Robert Edmund (1885). "Benwell, John Hodges". In Stephen, Leslie (ed.). Dictionary of National Biography. Vol. 4. London: Smith, Elder & Co.
  2. ↑ Graves, Algernon (1905). The Royal Academy: A Complete Dictionary of Contributors from its Foundations in 1769 to 1904. Vol. 1. London: Henry Graves. p. 183.
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