Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Bentley, Charles
BENTLEY, CHARLES (1806–1854), water-colour painter, was a member of the old Water-Colour Society, to which he was elected in 1844. 'His contributions,' Redgrave says, 'were chiefly coast and river scenes, but extended over a wide range, and included the numerous and varied incidents which belong to such subjects.' The British Museum contains one very fine example, a highly decorative drawing, bold, fine in colour and composition, not precisely drawn, however, and careless in matters of detail. The South Kensington Museum has four of his paintings. He died of cholera 4 Sept. 1854.
[Ottley's Supplement to Bryan's Dict.; Art Journal, 1854, p. 314; Athenæum. 9 Sept. 1854, p. 1090; Redgrave's Dict. of Artists of English School]