Life and work

Benazech is said to have been born in London

London

London is the capital city of :England and the :United Kingdom, the largest metropolitan area in the United Kingdom, and the largest urban zone in the European Union by most measures. Located on the River Thames, London has been a major settlement for two millennia, its history going back to its...

 about the year 1744. He was a pupil of François Vivares

François Vivares

François Vivares was a French landscape-engraver, active in England.-Life:He was born at Saint-Jean-du-Bruel, near Montpellier, France, on 11 July 1709, and brought up in Geneva. At the age of 18 he went to London....

, and worked as a draughtsman and engraver both in London and in Paris

Paris

Paris is the capital and largest city in France, situated on the river Seine, in northern France, at the heart of the Île-de-France region...

. His engravings are tastefully executed, and consist chiefly of landscapes and marine subjects, the best being those after Dietrich

Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich

Christian Wilhelm Ernst Dietrich was a German painter and art administrator. In his own works, he was adept at imitating many earlier artists, but never developed a style of his own.-Biography:...

 and Vernet.

He also engraved a series of anatomical plates, a set of seven scenes from the Seven Years' War

Seven Years' War

The Seven Years' War was a global military war between 1756 and 1763, involving most of the great powers of the time and affecting Europe, North America, Central America, the West African coast, India, and the Philippines...

, and, in conjunction with Pierre-Charles Canot

Pierre-Charles Canot

Pierre-Charles Canot, a French engraver, was born about the year 1710, and came in 1740 to England, where he resided during the remainder of his life. He was elected an Associate-Engraver of the Royal Academy in 1770, and died at Kentish Town, near London, in 1777. He engraved a great number of...

, four plates of engagements between the English and French fleets, after Francis Swaine

Francis Swaine

Francis Swaine was an English marine painter.He was born in 1725, and christened on 7 October of that year at St Dunstan’s, Stepney, London. For many years, and in many reference books, it has been stated that as a young man he worked as an office messenger with the British Navy, but then left...

. Besides these he engraved "Peasants playing at Bowls" after Adriaen van Ostade

Adriaen van Ostade

Adriaen van Ostade was a Dutch Golden Age painter of genre works.-Life:...

, and views in England after Chatelain and Brooks.

The year of his death is not known, but his latest dated plate is "The Tomb of Virgil" after Hugh Dean, engraved in 1783. His son, Charles Benazech

Charles Benazech

Charles Benazech was an English portrait and historical painter, and aquatint engraver. Prints of his painting of Louis XVI and family, just before the monarch's execution during the French revolution, achieved a wide circulation....

, was a notable portrait and history painter.

Notable engravings

• Peasants playing at Bowls; after Adriaen van Ostade.
• Fishermen; after Vernet.
• Return from fishing (after Vernet).
• A Calm at Sea (after Vernet).
• Morning (after Vernet).
• Four large landscapes (after Dietrich - engraved in 1770 and 1771).

External links

• Peter Paul Benazech online (Artcyclopedia)
• Engravings be Benezach (Grosvenor prints)