Alexander Bening (died 1519), also Sanders Bening, was an early 16th-century

miniature painter A portrait miniature is a miniature portrait painting, usually executed in gouache, watercolor, or enamel. Portrait miniatures developed out of the techniques of the miniatures in illuminated manuscripts, and were popular among 16th-century eli ...

of the

Ghent-Bruges school The Ghent-Bruges School is a manner or movement of manuscript illumination from about 1475 to about 1550 that developed in southern Netherlands, now Belgium. The term was first used in 1891 by Joseph Destree, author of ''Recherches sur les elumin ...

and

Netherlandish The Low Countries comprise the coastal Rhine–Meuse–Scheldt delta region in Western Europe, whose definition usually includes the modern countries of Luxembourg, Belgium and the Netherlands. Both Belgium and the Netherlands derived their ...

tradition. His date of birth is unknown. Bening was part of a South Netherlandish family of illuminators. He married Kathelijn van der Goes (probably a sister or niece of the painter

Hugo van der Goes Hugo van der Goes (c. 1430/1440 – 1482) was one of the most significant and original Flemish painters of the late 15th century. Van der Goes was an important painter of altarpieces as well as portraits. He introduced important innovations in pa ...

). Bening had two sons:

Simon Bening Simon Bening (c. 1483 – 1561) was a Flemish miniaturist, generally regarded as the last major artist of the Netherlandish tradition. Bening, born either in Ghent or Antwerp, was probably trained by his father, illuminator Alexander Bening, i ...

, who was trained in his father's craft, and Paul Bening, whose profession is unknown. No documented work is known by Bening. Records indicate in 1469 he became a member of the

Guild of Saint Luke The Guild of Saint Luke was the most common name for a city guild for painters and other artists in early modern Europe, especially in the Low Countries. They were named in honor of the Evangelist Luke, the patron saint of artists, who was ide ...

. Sanders and his family lived in Ghent, but in 1486 he also joined the Bruges Guild of St John and St Luke, whose membership embraced all those concerned with the production of books. His daughter Cornelia married

Andrew Halyburton Andrew Halyburton or Haliburton (before 1490 – 1507) was a Scottish merchant. Conservator of Scottish trading privileges Andrew Halyburton was stationed at Middelburg in Flanders where he was 'Conservator of the Scottish Staple,' or 'Conserva ...

, Conservator of Scottish privileges in the Netherlands. It has been suggested that Bening himself was related to a family of artists surnamed "Binning" working in Edinburgh later in the sixteenth century.David MacRoberts
'Notes on Scoto-Flemish artistic contacts', ''Innes Review'', 10:1 (1959), pp. 91–6
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References

External links

Gerard David: purity of vision in an age of transition
an exhibition catalog from The Metropolitan Museum of Art (fully available online as PDF), which contains material on Bening (see index)
Grimani Breviary: a Remarkable Artistic Collaboration between Simon Bening and Other Artists
1519 deaths Flemish Renaissance painters Manuscript illuminators Painters by city Year of birth unknown {{Netherlands-painter-stub