william behnes·1794 - 1864

historical figures selection box

use the down arrow to view option ========================= link to further material not in books ========================= ---------- section b ---------- bacon, john [BWM] baily, edward hodges [BWM] baker, sir herbert [Rem] behnes, william [BWM] bell, john [BWM] belsky, franta [BWM] binyon, laurence [Rem] blomfield, sir reginald [Rem] blunden, edmund [Rem] boehm, sir edgar [BWM] brock, sir thomas [BWM] butler, james [BWM] burdett-coutts, william [Rem] burnet, sir john james [Rem] ========================= ---------- section c ---------- chantrey, sir francis [BWM] churchill, sir winston [Rem] cockerell, professor charles [BWM] comper, sir ninian [BWM] ========================= ---------- section d ---------- derwent wood, professor francis [Rem] dick, sir william reid [BWM] drury, alfred [BWM] ========================= ---------- section e ---------- epstein, sir jacob [BWM] ========================= ---------- section f ---------- flaxman, professor john [BWM] frampton, sir george [BWM] ========================= ---------- section g ---------- gill, eric [BWM] gleichen, count victor [BWM] goscombe john, sir william [BWM] gotto, captain basil [BWM] ========================= ---------- section h ---------- haig, field marshall earl douglas [Rem] hepworth, philip [Rem] holden, charles [Rem] hutton, john [Rem] ========================= ---------- section j ---------- jackson, philip [BWM] jagger, charles sargeant [Rem] jones, captain adrian [BWM] ========================= ---------- section k ---------- kennington, eric [BWM] kenyon, colonel sir frederic [Rem] kipling, joseph rudyard [Rem] ========================= ---------- section l ---------- lafontaine, colonel cart de [Rem] lantéri, professor édouard [BWM] ledward, professor gilbert [BWM] lewis, sir robert [Rem] lloyd george, earl dwyfor - om [Rem] lorimer, sir robert [Rem] lutyens, sir edwin - om [Rem] ========================= ---------- section m ---------- mackenall, sir bertram [BWM] mallock, vivien [BWM] marochetti, baron carlo [BWM] marsh, sir edward howard [Rem] maufe, sir edward [Rem] mcmillan, william [BWM] melchett, lord [Rem] millington, major tasman [Rem] mills, john w [BWM] mond, sir alfred [Rem] ========================= ---------- section n ---------- nash, john [BWM] nightingale, florence - om [Rem] ========================= ---------- section 0 ---------- orpen, sir william [Rem] owen, wilfred [Rem] ========================= ---------- section p ---------- pegram, henry alfred [BWM] poole, henry [Rem] ========================= ---------- section r ---------- reid dick, sir william [BWM] roberts-jones, ivor [BWM] rosenburg, isaac [Rem] ========================= ---------- section s ---------- sassoon, siegfried [Rem] shepheard, sir peter [Rem] singer sargent, john [Rem] soissons, louis de [Rem] spencer, sir stanley [BWM] ========================= ---------- section t ---------- thornycroft, sir (william) hamo [BWM] toft, albert [BWM] turner, alfred [BWM] tweed, john [BWM] ========================= ---------- section w ---------- wade, george [BWM] ware, major general sir fabian [Rem] webb, sir aston [BWM] westmacott, sir richard [BWM] wheeler, sir charles [BWM] winter, faith [BWM] wood, francis derwent [BWM] worthington, sir hubert [Rem]

William Behnes was born in London in 1794. He was the son of an emigre Hanoverian pianoforte-maker and his English wife. William's early years were spent in Dublin, where after a false start in the field of pianoforte manufacture, he commenced studying art at Dublin Academy. After the Behnes family returned to London, he continued his artistic training, studying at the Royal Academy School of Art from 1813, and in the years 1816-19 winning successive silver medals. To critical acclaim, he first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1815 and success duly followed. In 1819 the Society of Arts awarded him their Gold Medal for inventing an instrument for transferring points from models to marble. He continued to pursue his interest in sculpture and demonstrated considerable facility in his busts of children.

“His early years were spent in Dublin, where after a false start in the field of pianoforte manufacture, he commenced studying art at the Dublin Academy”

Behnes would quickly establish himself a master of the white marble portrait bust; of his prolific output, a number are in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery. These include: George Tierney (1822); Judge William Scott, Baron Stowell (1824); Henry Addington, 1st Viscount Sidmouth (1831); William Charles Macready (1844) and 1st Earl Camden which may be found at Bayham Abbey at Lamberhurst in Kent. His bust Dr Thomas Arnold (1849) may be found in the Temple Reading Room and Museum at Rugby School in Warwickshire; Lord Lyndhurst in Trinity College Library at Cambridge University; Richard Porson at Eton College in Bucks; Sir Joshua Reynolds on a base of scagliola may be seen in the Cottonian Collection at the Plymouth City Museum & Art Gallery and Robert Vernon (1849) is in the collection of the Tate.

In 1837 recognition arrived and Behnes was appointed Sculptor in Ordinary to Queen Victoria. His pupils included such notable figures as: George Frederic Watts; Thomas Woolner; William Mossman II and Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins. Behnes' Monument to Major General Sir John Thomas Jones may be found in St Paul's Cathedral, as may his statue Dr Babington, considered by the experts to be his finest work. His bronze statue Sir Robert Peel (1855) (originally erected on a plinth of Peterhead granite at Cheapside in London) is at the Police Training School, Hendon, with copies at Peel Park in Bradford (1855) and at Leeds (1852).

His much criticised bronze statue of Major-General Sir Henry Havelock is believed to be the first statue sculpted from a photograph. Two casts were made - one occupies one of the plinths in Trafalgar Square, London, the other is in Mowbray Park, Sunderland. His Monument to Dr Andrew Bell may be seen in Westminster Abbey. His Memorial to Joseph Nollekens may be found in Paddington Parish Church, that to Mrs Botfield in All Saints Church at Norton in Northamptonshire. His bust of George Cruikshank (1855) may be found in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery.

The Every-Day Book of the diarist William Hone (1825-26) records: ‘On the 10th of March, 1820, died Benjamin West, esq., President of the Royal Academy, in the eighty-second year of his age. It was his delight to gently lead genius in a young artist; and Mr. William Behnes, the sculptor, was honoured by the venerable president with the means of transmitting his parting looks to an admiring world, upon whom he was soon to look no more. Mr. West's sittings to Mr. Behnes were about two months before his death. Expressing himself to his young friend in terms of high satisfaction at the model, he encouraged him to persevere in that branch of art which Mr. Behnes has since distinguished, by admirable power of design and use of the chisel. To speak of Mr. Behnes's model as a mere likeness, is meagre praise of an effort which clearly marks observation, and comprehension, of Mr. West's great mental powers. The bust, as it stands in marble, in Sir John Leicester's gallery, is a perfect resemblance of Mr. West's features, and an eloquent memorial of his vigorous and unimpaired intellect in the last days of earthly existence. If ever the noblest traits of humanity were depicted by the hand of art, they are on this bust. Superiority of mind is so decidedly marked, and blended, with primitive simplicity, and a beaming look of humanity and benevolence, that it seems the head of an apostle.'

Behnes was by nature financially improvident and he was declared bankrupt in 1861. He died in poverty in 1864 and his grave may be found in Kensal Green Cemetery in London.