biography of Henry BENBRIDGE (1743-1812)

Birth place: Philadelphia, PA

Death place: Buried at Christ Church, Phila.

Addresses: Phila., until 1772; Charleston, SC, 1772-c.1800; Norfolk, VA, c. 1800-?; Phila.

Profession: Portrait and historical painter, miniaturist

Studied: with John Wollaston, Phila., 1758; Anton Raphael Mengs and Pompeo Batoni, Italy, 1764-69; London, 1769-70

Exhibited: Royal Acad., London, 1770 (Benjamin Franklin"); PAFA, 1814"

Work: Gibbes Gallery, Charleston, S.C.; Wintherthur (Del.) Mus.; Anderson House Mus., Wash., DC; CI; Detroit Inst. of Arts; NPG; NMAA; PMA

Comments: Benbridge received his first art lessons from John Wollaston after that artist painted a portrait of Benbridge's stepfather, Thomas Gordon. An inheritance allowed the artist to study in Italy for several years, and to spend a year in London, where he won attention for his portrait of the Corsican patriot Pascal Paoli (while there he also painted a portrait of Benjamin Franklin). He returned to Philadelphia in 1770 with letters of recommendation from Benjamin West and Franklin. Soon after, he married Hetty Sage (see Hetty Sage Benbridge), who was herself a miniaturist. By the spring of 1772 Henry had moved to Charleston, SC (Hetty joined him in April of 1773), and he soon succeeded Jeremiah Theus (who died in 1774) as the most popular portrait painter in South Carolina. Benbridge produced sophisticated portraits that show his neoclassical training, and also painted numerous miniatures. He was imprisoned for two and a half years on a British prison ship after the British captured Charleston in 1780. Ill health brought about his retirement in the 1790s and by about 1800 he had moved to Norfolk (Va.) where he became one of Thomas Sully's early instructors. Benbridge eventually returned to Philadelphia.

Sources: G&W; Hildeburn, Records of Christ Church, Phila., Baptisms 1709-1760," 237; DAB; Rutledge, "Henry Benbridge (1743-1812?) American Portrait Painter," with 15 repros. and tentative lists of oil portraits by Benbridge and miniatures probably by Mrs. Benbridge; Rutledge, Artists in the life of Charleston, repro. 174; Dunlap, History, I, 142-44; Burial Records of Board of Health 1807-1814, in Geneal. Soc. of Pa., p. 3691 (citation courtesy of R.N. Williams, Hist. Soc. of Pa., and Miss Anna W. Rutledge); Flexner, The Light of Distant Skies, biblio., 258. More recently, see Robert Stewart, Henry Benbridge, 1743-1812: American Portrait Painter (Wash., DC: Smithsonian Inst. Press for the National Portrait Gallery; Saunders and Miles, 320-22; Baigell, Dictionary; 300 Years of American Art, 57."

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