(1659 - 1725)
Watercolourist and engraver Bernard Lens II was the son of a miniature painter in enamel, also called Bernard Lens. In 1697 Lens II set up a drawing school with a partner named John Stuart in St Paul’s Churchyard, a road adjacent to St Paul’s Cathedral in the City of London. In 1705 Lens was appointed Drawing Master at Christ’s Hospital, a charity school. Here he taught drawing, particularly in respect to mapping and navigation. Lens died at the age of 66 and was buried at St Brides Church in Fleet Street. He had several sons, of whom John (1683-c.1716) and Edward (c.1685-1749) became drawing masters, while Bernard Lens III (1682-1740), the most successful, became a miniature painter.
