Quick Facts
Biography
Mary Benwell (1739–after 1800), married name Codd, was an English artist, a miniaturist and pastellist.
Life
Her teachers may have included John Russell or Katherine Read.
She resided in Warwick Court, London, and exhibited crayon portraits and miniatures at the Incorporated Society of Artists and the Royal Academy between the years 1761 and 1791. She worked also in oil colours and made a reputation in her profession, but she retired from it on her marriage about 1762 with a military officer named Code (also Coode, Coade).
She was still living in Paddington in 1800.
Works
There is a portrait of Queen Charlotte of Mecklenburg-Strelitz, engraved after her by Richard Houston; and another of Miss Brockhurst, by J. Saunders. Other works were The Studious Fair (said to be a portrait of Queen Charlotte), engraved by Charles Spooner, and Cupid disarmed, by Charles Knight.