William Behnes

(b London, ?1795; d London, 3 Jan 1864). English sculptor of German origin. The son of a Hannoverian piano maker, he was brought up in Dublin, where he worked for his father and attended a public drawing school. He entered the Royal Academy Schools in London in 1813 and set up as a portrait painter shortly afterwards. He began sculpting around 1819 after taking lessons from P. F. Chenu (1760-after 1833) and soon obtained commissions for portrait busts. One of his early sitters was Princess Victoria (marble, 1829; Windsor Castle, Berks, Royal Col.), and in 1837 he was appointed Sculptor in Ordinary to the Queen, though he received no further royal commissions. He was the master of a busy studio, where he executed some fine church monuments, such as the one to Charlotte Botfield (marble, 1825; Norton, Northants, All Saints), a few ideal works, including Lady Godiva (plaster, c. 1844; Coventry, Council House), and many portrait statues and busts. Such works as the statue of Dr Babington (marble, 1837; London, St Paul's Cathedral) and the busts of Robert Vernon (marble, London, Tate) and Richard Porson (marble, 1845; Eton, Berks, College Lib.) are among the finest examples of Victorian naturalistic portraiture.

See the Abbreviations for further details.

Bust of banker Joshua Bates, by William Behnes

William Behnes (1795–1864) was an English sculptor of the early 19th century.

Born in London, Behnes was the son of a Hanoverian pianoforte-maker and his English wife. His early life was spent in Dublin where he studied art at the Dublin Academy.

After the family returned to London, Behnes continued his artistic training, studying at the Royal Academy School of Art from 1813. As a painter, he exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1815 and won several medals during the ensuing years. In 1819 he won a Society of Arts gold medal for inventing an instrument to assist sculpture work, having by this time begun to practice successfully as a sculptor.

In 1837 Behnes was appointed 'Sculptor in Ordinary' to Queen Victoria. His pupils included noted sculptors George Frederic Watts, Thomas Woolner and Henry Weekes,^[1] and naturalist Benjamin Waterhouse Hawkins.

He produced many busts of children, reliefs and also some notable church monuments and statues, including ones of Dr William Babington in St Paul's Cathedral and Major-General Sir Henry Havelock (believed to be the first statue based on a photograph, two casts were made - one is today situated in Trafalgar Square, London, the other in Mowbray Park, Sunderland) and several of Sir Robert Peel (including ones situated in Leeds, Peel Park in Bradford, and at the police college in Hendon in north-west London). Other subjects included: Thomas Arnold, Sir Joshua Reynolds, Benjamin West and George Cruikshank.

Despite this success, he was financially inept and was declared bankrupt in 1861, and died in poverty.

References

1. ^ "Stevens T. 'Weekes, Henry (1807–1877)', Oxford Dictionary of National Biography (2004)". Oxford University Press. http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/28969. Retrieved 2008-03-17. 

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