Bernard Lens III facts for kids
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Bernard Lens III (born May 27, 1682, died December 24, 1740) was a famous English artist. He was best known for painting tiny portraits called portrait miniatures. Bernard Lens III worked for kings George I and George II. He also taught miniature painting to young royals like Prince William and princesses Mary and Louise.
Biography
Bernard Lens III was born in London in 1682. His father, Bernard Lens II, was also an artist who made special prints called mezzotints. When Bernard Lens III was about 16, he started learning from an artist named Sturt. This was probably John Sturt, who worked with his father. Sturt was part of the Worshipful Company of Goldsmiths, which was a group that allowed him to work in London.
In 1704, Lens joined a new art club called the Rose and Crown Club. Famous artists like William Hogarth were also members. Lens became very good at painting miniature portraits. In 1707, he became the first British artist to use ivory instead of vellum for his tiny paintings. Vellum was the old material used for miniatures.
Painting on Ivory
Painting with watercolors on ivory was a difficult skill. It was invented in Venice around 1700 by an artist named Rosalba Carriera. This new way of painting quickly became popular across Europe. Lens's style was similar to Carriera's. However, he used pencil sketches and thicker paints. This made his paintings less see-through than others.
Experts have noted that Lens made skin tones look light and clear. But the clothes and backgrounds in his paintings looked more solid, like oil paintings. He often used a light blue color in his costumes.
Lens's Family of Artists
Bernard Lens III and his wife Katherine had at least three sons. One of them was named Bernard Lens IV. All of his sons became artists who drew and painted miniatures. However, their work is not as well known today. It can also be hard to tell their art apart from their father's.
One of his sons, Peter Paul Lens (born 1714, died 1750), was also a miniaturist. He painted a portrait of his father, which you can see in the Victoria and Albert Museum. Another son, Andrew Benjamin Lens, born around 1713, also painted miniatures.
His Artistic Rivals
Bernard Lens III had a main competitor named Christian Friedrich Zincke. Zincke worked with enamel, which is a type of glass-like paint. The famous writer Horace Walpole called Bernard Lens III "the incomparable painter in watercolours." He admired Lens's copies of famous paintings. However, another art expert, Dudley Heath, thought Lens's work was "hard and unappealing."
