Frank Moss Bennett was born in Liverpool on 15th November, 1874, the son of Henry Bennett an iron founder for the thriving shipbuilding port of Liverpool. Educated at Browns House, Clifton College in Bristol, Bennett joined the Slade School of Art in 1892 and trained as a portrait painter. In 1896 he enrolled at the Royal Academy School of Art, where he won the Gold Medal and Travel Scholarship in 1899.
After his marriage in 1907, Bennett became an established London artist, specialising in painting portraits, genre and historical subjects, which proved immensely popular and provided him and his family with a very good income, not only from the sale of his original paintings but also from their reproduction as prints. By 1911, Bennett and his family were settled in a large house in Ebury Streetnear Victoria, with a fine studio. The Sackville-West family were close neighbours and Bennett frequently painted portraits of the family.
In addition to his skills as an artist, Bennett was an accomplished craftsman and some of the pieces of furniture depicted in his paintings were made by him. Other pieces were from his extensive collection of furniture, tapestries, period costumes, armour and all manner of artefacts. He visited many of the great houses of England and sketched their interiors to provide the remarkable settings for his genre and historical subjects. Knole in Kent, Montacute in Somerset and Haddon Hall in Derbyshire are just three of these great houses.
In 1938, with war looming in Europe, Bennett retired to a farm called Whetcombe Barton in Trusham, Devon, the county from which his wife’s family originated. His daughter managed the farm and his grandchildren were frequent visitors.
Bennett continued to paint right up until his death on 23rd February, 1952.
Exhibited
Royal Academy 1898-1928, Royal Institute, Paris Salon
Literature
Frank Moss Bennett (1874-1952) The Forgotten Artist by Maureen Son
