Bernard Lens III

[2] In 1704 Lens joined the newly established Rose and Crown Club, an art society frequented by William Hogarth and George Vertue.

[1] Lens established himself as a portrait miniaturist, and in 1707 became the first British artist to replace vellum, the traditional medium of miniatures, with ivory.

[1] Dudley Heath and Marjorie Wieseman noted the contrast between the translucent, lightweight appearance of skin tones with solid, oil–like[3] draperies and backgrounds.

[1] One of these sons, miniaturist Peter Paul Lens (1714–1750), has painted the portrait of his father that is conserved in the Victoria and Albert Museum.

[7] Horace Walpole called Bernard Lens III "the incomparable painter in watercolours"[8] and lamented that his copies of great masters "had all the merits of the originals except what they deserved too: duration.