A BIOGRAPHICAL DICTIONARY OF
Touis XVI., whole-length ; after Callet.
Napoleou I., bust ; after a drawing by Robert Lefebvre.
(Never finished.)
Louis XVIII.; after Augustin. (Never finished.!
Charles Gravier, Comte de Vergennes; after his own
drawing.
Michel Letellier ; after the engraving hy Nanteuil.
Carl von Linne ; after A. Boslin.
Prince Ignacy Jacob Massalski, Bishop of 'Wilna ; after
Kymli.
Gabriel Senac de Meilhan, Intendant of Hainault ;
after J. S. Suvlessis. „ „ „
-' R. E. G.
BESCHEY, Balthasab, (or Bksschey,) who waa born at Antwerp in 1708, studied under Pieter Strick, an unimportant painter, but imitated the styles of Van Balen and of De Craeyer. In 1753 he was admitted as a freeman of the Guild of St. Luke, and two years later became one of the six directors of the Academy in the above town, and in the year following that was elected dean of St. Luke. He died in 1776, at Antwerp, while holding the post of professor in the Academy of that city. He painted landscapes at the com- mencement of his artistic career, but confined himself in after life to sacred history and por- traiture. In the two latter branches of art he is well represented. His works display a taste for harmony, and are for the most part carefully executed, but are wanting in delicacy of colouring. The following may be mentioned :
Antwerp. JIfuseum. Joseph sold by bis brethren {signed and dated 1744). ^ ,. Joseph viceroy of Egypt {signed and dated 1744). „ „ Portrait of himself {signed — presented by hiin to the Aca* demy of St. Luke in 1763). ,, Portrait of Martin Joseph Gee-raerts. Paris. Louvre. A Flemish Family {signed and dated 1721). Petersburg. Hermitage. The Five Senses. An allegory.
B. BESCHEIJ, 1733. _ „ The Five Senses. An allegory.
B. BESCHEIJ. It Inis been recorded that Beschey had a son who was a painter, but tliis is a mistake. He liad, however, three younger brothers who followed his profession, under his instruction, and one elder brother, who was a pupil of Goovaert's. This last mentioned was Cakel Beschet, who was born at Antwerp in 1706. Then, after Balthasar, came Jacob Andreas Beschey, born at Antwerp in 1710, and still living in 1773. He also was ' doyen ' of St. Luke. Next came Joseph Hendrik Beschey, who was born at Antwerp in 1714 ; and lastly, Jan FRANgois Beschey, who was born in 1717, at Antwerp, where he established himself as a picture dealer, and became celebrated for the copies he made of the works of Rubens, Van Dyck, Teniers, Pijnacker, Moucheron, and other great masters. He was dean of the Guild of St. Luke in 1767.
BESENZI, Paolo Emilio, was born at Reggio in 1624. He distinguished himself as a painter, a sculptor, and an architect. Although the friend and companion of Lionello Spada, he differed from liis style, preferring the graceful manner of Albani. His principal pictures, which establish his reputa- tion as a painter, are in the church of San Pietro. He died in 1666.
BESOET, Jan, a Dutch engraver, was born early in the 18th century, and died about 1769. He engraved a large plate of the fireworks at the 128 Hague in 1748, and many portraits, book-platea, and title-pa<r'5s.
BESOZZI, Ambbogio, a painter and engraver, born at Milan in 1648. He was first a scholar of Gioseffo Danedi, and afterwards studied under Giro Ferri. He excelled in painting architectural views, friezes, basso-relievos, and other works of decora- tion. He died at Milan in 1706. Works by him are in the galleries and churches of Milan, Turin, and Parma. He etched two plates :
The Portrait of Correggio. The Apotheosis of a Princess; in which the portrait was by Bonacina, and the other part of the plate by Besozzi ; after Cesare Fiori.
BESSA, Pancrace, a flower painter, was born in Paris in 1772. He was a pupil of G. van Spaendonck and of Redoute, and was flower painter to the Duchess de Berri, to whom he gave lessons, and to the Museum of Natural History at the Jardin des Plantes. He died at Ecouen about the year 1835.
BESSON, Charles Jean Baptiste, a French fresco painter and Dominican, was born near Besan- fon in 1816. He was at first a pupil of Souchon, but upon going to Rome in 1835 he entered the studio of Delaroche. In 1839 he became connected with the celebrated Lacordaire, and in the follow- ing year entered the Dominican order, taking the name of Hyacinthe, but did not entirely abandon the practice of his art. He died at the convent of Mar-Yacub, near Mosul, in 1861.
BEST, Jean, a French wood-engraver, was horn at Toul in 1808. He contributed largely to the success of the ' Illustration,' as well as of the ' Magiisin pittoresque,' of which he was one of the proprietors. He was decorated with the Legion of Honour, and died in 1879.
BESTARD (or Bastard), a painter of Majorca, lived at Palnia about the end of the 17th century. He painted for the convent of Monte Sion there a superb picture, measuring 24 palms in length, and 15 in height, representing ' Christ in the Desert attended by angels ; ' it is considered as one of the marvels of the city. He also ornamented several other public buildings at Palnia.
BETTELINl, Pietro, an eminent Italian en- graver, was born at Lugano in 1763, and applied at an early age to the study of the art. He received instructions from Gandolfi and Bartolozzi ; but in his subsequent works he inclined more to the stj'le of Raphael Morghen. He died at Rome in 1828. He is particularly happy in his transcripts of light and elegant forms, and enters with much taste and spirit into the subject he copies. He does not aim at producing brilliant effects, but exercises his graver with care and delicacy, corresponding with the style of the original picture. In those of a sombre or forcible character he is not equally successful. He was held in high estimation by Thor- waldsen, who employed him to engrave some of his finest works, both figures and bassi-rilievi. His engraving of the ' Entombment,' by Andrea del Sarto, in the Florence Gallery, exhibits all the beautits of the original, and may be quoted, not only as his masterpiece, but also among the finest cxamphs of art. The following are a portion of his justly esteemed productions:
Entombment; after Andrea del Sarto. Madonna col devoto ; after the painting by Correggw. in the possession of the i^ing of Bavaria.
Ecce Homo ; afier Correggio. St. John ; after liomenichino.
