Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Benwell, Mary

1304903Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900, Volume 04 — Benwell, Mary1885Robert Edmund Graves

BENWELL, MARY (fl. 1761–1800). portrait painter, is not known to have been in any way related to John Hodges Benwell [q. v.] She resided in Warwick Court, London, and exhibited many crayon portraits and miniatures at the Incorporated Society of Artists and the Royal Academy between the years 1761 and 1791. She worked also in oil colours and obtained some reputation in her profession, but she retired from it on her marriage about 1762 with an officer named Code. She was still living at Paddington in 1800. There is a portrait of Queen Charlotte, engraved after her by Richard Houston, another of Miss Brockhurst, by J. Saunders, 'The Studious Fair' (said to be a portrait of Queen Charlotte), by Charles Spooner, and 'Cupid disarmed,' by Charles Knight.

[Redgrave's Dictionary of Artists, 1878.]