The eldest son of a German piano-maker and his English wife,
William Behnes was born in London, possibly in 1791 (baptismal
records at St Mary's, Marylebone, include one for a William
Bennes born in the December of that year). He grew up and went
to drawing school in Dublin, but entered the Royal Academy
Schools in 1813, turning to sculpture and winning several medals
there. He became "second only to Francis Chantrey as England's
most prolific and successful portrait sculptor" (Stocker). In
the opinion of Henry Weekes, who worked with both, Behnes was
actually the better sculptor, his heads having "greater freedom
of handling, less mannerism, more variety and greater difference
of character" (qtd. in Stocker). But he lacked Chantrey's
personal attributes (Chantrey, for example, became friends with
sitters like James Watt), and after spending a great deal of
money adapting premises in Soho into a studio, he spiralled
down, apparently into drink as well as debt. Benedict Read
paints a sad picture of him, "found