(1806 - 1854)
Watercolour painter and engraver Charles Bentley is best-known for painting breezy scenes off the English coast. He was born in London; the son of a master carpenter. Bentley was apprenticed to printmaker Theodore Fielding and later spent time in Paris with Theodore’s brother, watercolourist Newton Fielding. From 1827 Bentley made a modest living as an engraver and illustrator. He was elected a member of the Society of Painters in Water Colours (1843) and exhibited 209 works from 1834 to his death. He was a friend of artist William Callow; with whom he made several sketching trips, including a tour of Normandy (1841). The two shared a home in Charlotte Street, Bloomsbury, from 1843 to 1846. Bentley died in Hampstead, at the age of 48.
