BENSON, Ambrosius

Ambrosius Benson (Bentsoen), born Ambrogio Benzone, South Netherlandish painter born in Lombardy and active in Bruges. In 1518 he acquired Bruges citizenship, and in 1519 he was admitted to the guild of painters and saddlemakers there as an independent master, with the comment that he was ‘from Lombardy’. Initially he worked in the studio of Gerard David, by whom he was profoundly influenced, but after a few months the relationship went wrong and the younger painter brought a case against David.

Benson ran a large workshop that exported his paintings to Spain, through the Spanish community in Segovia. This is most likely how the identity of a Master of Segovia was created and now believed to be Benson. The 50 works attributed to him in Segovia are signed A. B., which also probably accounts for the former identity of Monogrammist A B. He was also formerly known as the Master of The Deipara Virgo of Antwerp.

Benson’s Lombard origins would have enabled him to adapt Italian prototypes and to paint naked figures better than his Flemish counterparts. His familiarity with Italian Renaissance models is clear from his later mythological scenes and history paintings of classical subjects, in which he represented scantily clad figures and nudes, such as Judith, Lucrezia and Caritas. In his more numerous devotional pieces, by contrast, Benson followed the established Bruges tradition, which relied on such Flemish examples as Gerard David, Jan van Eyck, Rogier van der Weyden and Hugo van der Goes and favoured such subjects as St Mary Magdalene and the sibyls. Benson painted relatively few portraits, although these may be considered his best works. He individualized the sitters through facial expressions and free and varied positions.

Benson’s first marriage was to Anna Ghyselin, who bore him two sons, Willem Benson and Jan Benson (before 1530-before 1581), both of whom became artists. From his second marriage, to Josyne Michiels, a daughter Anna was born, and he had two other daughters from various extra-marital relationships. Benson was an affluent and successful man: he owned several houses. He twice received commissions from city magistrates to decorate their new county hall and was a member of the city council on three occasions; he also held important offices within the painters’ guild, including dean (1537-38 and 1543-44) and governor (1540-41). His pupils included his two sons, and Joachim Spaers (1541) and Jacob Vinson (Fynson; 1549).