A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
Benedetto, near Snbiaco, by him, is in the National
Gallery at Berlin.
BECKWITH, Thomas, a native of Yorkshire, was first apprenticed to a house-painter at Wake- field, but soon displaj'ed talents as a portrait painter; he also made many drawings of the churches in the neighbourhood. He latterly re- sided t York, where he died in 1786. He pub- lished ' A Walk in and about the City of York.'
BEDAFF, Antonie Aloisius Emanuel van, an historical and portrait painter, was born at Ant- werp in 1787. Three of his works, 'The first Meeting of the Estates at Dordrecht,' ' The Last Inter'iew between the Prince of Orange and Count Egmont,' and ' The Confederation of the Nobles,' are in the Gallery at Haarlem. He died at Brussels in 1829.
BEDUSCHI, Antonio, a native of Cremona, born in 1576, was a scholar of Canipi, whose manner he imitated. He is mentioned by P. Carasi, and two pictures, painted by him in his 26th year, are commended for the promise they give of future excellence : one is the ' Martyrdom of St. Stephen,' and the other a ' Pieti,' for San Sepolcro in Piacenza. The time of his death is not stated, but he was living in 1607.
BEECHEY, George D., a son of Sir William Beechey, followed his father's profession. From the year 1817, he was a frequent exhibitor at the Royal Academy. About 1830, he went to India, where he attained great celebrity, and was made portrait painter and Controller of tlie Household to the King of Oude. A j. irlrait of Hinda, an Indian lady whom he married, was exhibited in the Royal Academy, London, and created a great sensation at the time ; but he died early, in India, about 1856.
BEECHEY, Sir William, an English portrait painter, bom in 1753, was a native of Burford in Oxfordshire. In early life he was placed with a solicitor at Stow, but becoming acquainted with Bome of the painters of the day, he took a fancy to art, and began the practice of portrait painting. In this he distinguished himself so much that he was patronized by George the Third, and was made portrait painter to Queen Charlotte, and lived much at Windsor as instructor to the princesses, who entertained the strongest regard for him to the end of his life. He was elected an Associate of the Royal Academy in 1793, and an Academician in 1798. He painted, in 1798, a ' Review of the Horse Guards,' in which the portraits of George the Third, the Prince of Wales, and the Duke of York, were introduced, and for which he was knighted. This picture is now at Hampton Court. He at one time attempted fancy subjects, and ' The Morning Star ' and ' The Evening Star,' the portraits of his daughter Lady Grantley as Hebe, of Lady Georgina Bathurst as Adoration, are beautiful examples of his skill in this direction ; but finding the painting of good likenesses was more profitable, he confined himself l.itterly to that style. He died at Hampsfead, in 1839. In sixty-four years he sent no less than 362 portraits to the exhibitions of the Royal Academy.
Dulwich. Gallery. Portrait of Ch.arles Small Pybus, M.P. „ „ Portrait of John Philip Kemble. „ „ Portrait of Sir P. F. Bourgeois, E.A. Palace 1 ^ Ke'^e'"f of the Horse Guards liODdoD. Aaf. Gall. Portrait of Joseph Nollekens, B.A., the sculptor.
The portraits of Sir William Beechey, which still adorn the public halls and family residences of the country, are celebrated for their truth to nature, and for the freshness of colour which they still retain.
BEECE, Jan, was bom at Looz, and was a monk of the convent of St. Lawrence, near Li^ge, of which he became the abbot in 1509. He is con- sidered, after the brothers Van Eyck, to be the most distinguished among the ancient painters of Liege. Ho painted the greater number of the pic- tures in the church of his convent, and died in 1516.
BEECQ, Jean Chables Dominique, a Dutch marine painter, who was bom at Amsterdam about 1640, established himself in Paris about 1680, and became a member of the Academy in 1681. He died, probably in Holland, in 1722. Some of his sea-pieces have been engraved by Fouard.
BEEKE, A. VAN, who lived in the middle of the 17th century at Bodegraven, in Holland, was an excellent painter of fruit-pieces, dead birds, &c. In the Royal Gallery at Vienna is a still-life subject.
BEELDEMAKER, Fbans, the son of Jan Beeldemaker, was born at the Hague, in 1669, and was first instructed by his father ; he then studied under Willem Doudyns, an historical painter of some celebrity. After passing some years in Italy, he returned to Holland, where he was employed in painting historical subjects and portraits. He was admitted a member of the Academy at the Hague. In 1717 he left the Hague and went to live near Rotterdam, where he died at a very advanced age.
BEELDEMAKER, Jan, a Dutch painter, was bom at the Hague in 1630, and died in 1680. It is not said by whom he was instructed, but he excelled in painting boar and stag hunts. They are chiefly of small dimensions, and are frequently seen in England.
BEERINGS, Gbegorius, was born at Malines about 1500, and died in 1570. He studied in Italy, and produced some good pictures of landscapes with architectural ruins ; but being of dissipated habits, his talents were never fully developed.
BEERSKI, Count de, miniature painter, was a Russian nobleman, the owner of an estate near Moscow, who, on the accession of the Emperor Nicholas, was obliged to leave Russia on account of his liberal views. Being entirely ruined by his enforced exile, and having a taste for drawing, he took to miniature painting, residing in Paris, Ham- burg, and London. At the Great Exhibition in 1851, some of his paintings were exhibited and ob- tained first-class honours. He emigrated to America in 1859, and died at Rochester, U.S., in 1869.
BEERESTRAATEN, Alexander, is the name given to the author of three paintings, signed A. Beerestraaten, in the Galleries of Berlin, St. Peters- burg, and Copenhagen. M. Havard denies his existence, and considers the Berlin and St. Peters- burg pictures to be by the hand of Jan Beere- straaten, of whom Alexander is supposed to have been a brother.
BEERESTRAATEN, Jan, was born at Amsterdam in 1622, and was christened on the 31st of May in the old parish church. His father, Abraham Jans, a cooper, assumed the name of Beerestraaten, probably because he resided in the Beeren-straat. In 1642 Jan married Magdalena van Bronckhorst, who bore him five children. He finally died at Amsterdam, it is supposed, in 1687. Jan Beerestraaten is essentially an Amsterdam painter. He was born, painted, and died in that city ; and it is
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