William Behnes
Born 13 December 1791 (Circa)
Died 3 January 1864
Active: 1815 - 1864
Country of birth and death: England
Sculptor
Possibly the William Bennes [sic] born in Portman Square, Middlesex, on 13 December 1791 and baptized at St Mary's, Marylebone Road, on 2 September 1792, the son of William and Elizabeth Bennes. Behnes' father was a piano maker from Hanover who enjoyed limited financial success. The younger William was brought up in Dublin, where he attended a public drawing-school. After returning to London with his family, he enrolled at the Royal Academy Schools in 1813 to study painting. However, after he and his brother Henry received lessons in modelling from Peter Francis Chenu they turned to sculpture. From the 1820s to the 1840s Behnes was almost as successful a portrait sculptor as Francis Chantrey. His pupils and assistants included Henry Weekes and Thomas Woolner. After a period of considerable success, his fortunes declined and he was declared bankrupt in 1861. Behnes' financial troubles stemmed (based on Roscoe (2009, p. 90)) from extravagant taste and taking on a workshop in Dean Street which was ill-adapted to sculpture. He spent a great deal of money converting it so that the studio could accommodate large clay models. As a result he borrowed from moneylenders and he also took to drink. Between 1833 and his bankruptcy Behnes worked from Osnaburgh Street. He died insolvent in 1863 in Middlesex Hospital and was buried in Kensal Green Cemetery.
Wealth at death: £0 0s. 1d.
Died bankrupt
Works
Dates are usually the year a work was exhibited so may differ from date of production.
New entries have been made each time a work was exhibited. Click here for more information.
Bust of the Rt. Hon. B. D'israeli, MP
Statue of Sir Robert Peel
1855 (Circa)
Locations
Address 13 Osnaburgh Street London | View on map
1833 (Circa) - 1861 (Presumed)
Address 10 Osnabrgh Street Regent's Park London | View on map
1860 (Circa)
Exhibitions, Meetings, Awards and other Events
Exhibited at The International Exhibition, London, 1862
Multiple works
Exhibited at Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts (Leeds), 1853
Multiple works
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Fourth, 1852
'Marble bust of Alderman Wire'
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
p.55
Exhibited at The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts (Summer Exhibition), 1768-
1815 - 1863
Exhibited 50 times, average 3-5 works per year.
Exhibited at Great Exhibition of the Works of Industry of all Nations (London), 1851
1851
Institutional and Business Connections
Member of Leeds Academy of Arts
Behnes was an honorary member
Member of Institute of British Sculptors
1856 (Circa) - 1860 (Circa)
Personal and Professional Connections
Advisor to William Gray
1839 (Presumed)
Gray entered the Royal Academy Schools on the recommendation of Behnes
Apprenticed Henry Weekes
1822 - 1827
Apprenticed Thomas Woolner
1840
Trained initially as a painter with Behnes's brother, Charles. On the latter's death Woolner was accepted as a pupil of William Behnes without a fee, in return, when he was sufficiently advanced, the younger artist was to work for a reduced rate as an assistant. Woolner stayed with Behnes for about 6 years.
Employed as studio assistant Edward Arlington Foley
1834 (Presumed)
Exact dates of employment unknown but probably ended by this date
Employed as studio assistant John Edward Carew
Either assistant or pupil
Employed as studio assistant John Graham Lough
Either assistant or pupil
Employed as studio assistant Timothy Butler
Either assistant or pupil
Employed as studio assistant Alfred Gatley
Either assistant or pupil
Employed as studio assistant Neville Northey Burnard
Either assistant or pupil
Employed as studio assistant George Frederic Watts
Either assistant or pupil
Employed as studio assistant Joseph Edwards
1835 - 1838
Either assistant or pupil
Employed as studio assistant John Henry Foley
1835 (Circa) - 1838 (Circa)
Either assistant or pupil
Employed as studio assistant William Mynorydd Davis
1842 (Circa)
Either assistant or pupil
Employed as studio assistant Joseph Gawen
1855 (Circa) - 1861 (Circa)
Gawen entered the Royal Academy Schools in 1847 on the recommendation of Behnes. Then in the latter half of the 1850s Gawen submitted work to the Royal Academy from Behnes' studio address. It is therefore assumed he worked for the older sculptor.
Pupils included Jozsef Engel
1838 (Circa)
Descriptions of Practice
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1851 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
Listed under Sculptors Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
Sources
A Biographical Dictionary of Sculptors in Britain, 1660-1851
2009
pp. 90-7
Catalogue of the Annual Exhibition of the Academy of Arts, 8 Bond Street, Leeds, 1853
1853 (Presumed)
Cat. No. 543, pp. 4, 23
International exhibition 1862, official catalogue, fine art department
1862
List of Members: Institute of British Sculptors (or Sculptor's Institute)
2008 (Circa)
Oxford Dictionary of National Biography
2004
Mark Stocker, ‘Behnes, William (1791x7–1864)’, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 [http://www.oxforddnb.com/view/article/1963, accessed 17 Oct 2009]
Post Office London Directory, 1851 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1851
p. 1364
Post Office London Directory, 1860 Post Office/Kelly London Directories
1860
p. 1803
Rules of the Institute of Sculptors
1861
p. iv (confirms his membership had ceased by 1861)
The Builder, Vol. XIII, 25 August 1855
25 August 1855
The Exhibition of the Royal Academy of Arts, The Eighty-Seventh, 1855
1855
p.55
Citing this record
'William Behnes', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=msib7_1206714146, accessed 10 Jun 2023]
