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Name
Lens, Bernard III
Birth date
1682
Death date
1740
Biography
Of the third generation and best known of this family of painters, Lens was born in London in 1682. He studied at the Academy of Painting in Great Queen Street, Lincoln’s Inn Fields, and became the best-known miniature painter of his day. He was appointed limner to George I and George II and was drawing master to, among others, the Duke of Cumberland and Horace Walpole. He taught drawing at Christ’s Hospital and practiced etching. Lens drew and engraved 62 plates illustrating “A New and Compleat Drawing Book”, which was not published until after his death.