Charles Bentley (1805/6–4 September 1854), was an English watercolour painter of coastal and river scenery.

Life

Scene in Kattiawar, Travellers and Escort

Bentley was born in 1805 or 1806, the son of a master-carpenter and builder living in

Tottenham Court Road Tottenham Court Road (occasionally abbreviated as TCR) is a major road in Central London, almost entirely within the London Borough of Camden. The road runs from Euston Road in the north to St Giles Circus in the south; Tottenham Court Road tub ...

, London. He was sent to work colouring prints for Theodore Fielding to whom he was eventually apprenticed in order to learn aquatinting. Bentley became a lifelong friend of another, rather younger, pupil of Fielding,

William Callow William Callow (1812–1908) was an English landscape painter, engraver and water colourist. Career Callow was born in Greenwich on 28 July 1812. He was apprenticed to the artist Copley Fielding, where he learnt the technique of ''plein air ...

. During his apprenticeship he was sent to Paris, probably to assist work on the plates for ''Excursion sur les Cotes et dans les Ports de Normandie (Paris, 1823-5), most of which were after watercolours by Richard Bonington. After the end of his apprenticeship, though earning some money from engraving or designing plates for periodicals, Bentley turned increasingly to painting watercolours. He exhibited four works at the first Exhibition of the New Society of Painters in Water-Colours, (later the Royal Institute of Painters in Water-Colours) in 1832, and six the next year. He was then living at 15, Bateman's Buildings, a narrow turning on the south side of Soho Square, where he remained for another six years. In February 1834, Bentley was elected an Associate-Exhibitor of the

Old Water-Colour Society The Royal Watercolour Society is a British institution of painters working in watercolours. The Society is a centre of excellence for water-based media on paper, which allows for a diverse and interesting range of approaches to the medium of wat ...

(later the Royal Society of Painters in Water-Colours). By 1838 he had moved to 11, Mornington Place, Hampstead Road, where, except for a three-year break (when he lived with William Callow in Charlotte Street) he spent the rest of his life. His exhibits at the Old Water-Colour Society in 1838 included two imaginative compositions :''From the Red Rover'', depicting a naval battle, and ''From Tom Cringle's Log'', which represented a sinking slave-ship. He showed at the

British Institution The British Institution (in full, the British Institution for Promoting the Fine Arts in the United Kingdom; founded 1805, disbanded 1867) was a private 19th-century society in London formed to exhibit the works of living and dead artists; it w ...

for the first time in 1843, and the next year became a full member of the "Old Society" . In 1851 he showed at the

Society of British Artists The Royal Society of British Artists (RBA) is a British art body established in 1823 as the Society of British Artists, as an alternative to the Royal Academy. History The RBA commenced with twenty-seven members, and took until 1876 to reach fif ...

. Bentley painted scenes all over Britain, in Jersey, the north of Ireland, and in Normandy, which he visited several times with Callow between 1836 and 1841. He also exhibited views of Venice, Holland and Düsseldorf, but it is not certain that he actually went to these places, as he is known to have painted works after sketches by other people, such as his paintings of Trebizond and Abydos, shown in 1841 and 1849, based on drawings by Coke Smyth. He also worked up the illustrations for ''12 Views in the Interior of Guiana'', published by

Rudolf Ackermann Rudolph Ackermann (20 April 1764 in Schneeberg, Electorate of Saxony – 30 March 1834 in Finchley, London) was an Anglo-German bookseller, inventor, lithographer, publisher and businessman. Biography He attended the Latin school in Stollberg ...

in 1841, from studies done on an expedition to South America by John Morison. Bentley was not financially successful:

Samuel Redgrave Samuel Redgrave (3 October 1802, London - 20 March 1876 London) was an English civil servant and writer on art. Life He was eldest son of William Redgrave, and brother of Richard Redgrave, and was born at 9 Upper Eaton Street, Pimlico, London. Whe ...

described him as "uncertain in his transactions, and always poor". He died of

cholera Cholera is an infection of the small intestine by some strains of the bacterium ''Vibrio cholerae''. Symptoms may range from none, to mild, to severe. The classic symptom is large amounts of watery diarrhea that lasts a few days. Vomiting and ...

on 4 September 1854, leaving a widow, and was buried in the western side of

Highgate Cemetery Highgate Cemetery is a place of burial in north London, England. There are approximately 170,000 people buried in around 53,000 graves across the West and East Cemeteries. Highgate Cemetery is notable both for some of the people buried there as ...

. The grave (no.6056) no longer has a headstone or marker.

References

External links

*
Works by Bentley
(

Government Art Collection The Government Art Collection (GAC) is the collection of artworks owned by the UK government and administered by the Department for Digital, Culture, Media and Sport (DCMS). The GAC's artworks are used to decorate major government buildings in t ...

)
Charles Bentley on Artnet

Scarborough Castle from the South Bay
(Watercolour - Birmingham Museums and Art Gallery) * Painting of , engraved by J. Thomas for The Literary Souvenir, 1835 with a poetical illustration on Venice by

Letitia Elizabeth Landon Letitia Elizabeth Landon (14 August 1802 – 15 October 1838) was an English poet and novelist, better known by her initials L.E.L. The writings of Landon are transitional between Romanticism and the Victorian Age. Her first major breakthrough ...

. {{DEFAULTSORT:Bentley, Charles 1806 births 1854 deaths Burials at Highgate Cemetery English watercolourists 19th-century English painters English male painters English engravers British marine artists 19th-century English male artists