Background
Bensell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Edmund Shippen Bensell and Margaret (Sperry) Bensell.
Bensell was born in Philadelphia, Pennsylvania, the son of Edmund Shippen Bensell and Margaret (Sperry) Bensell.
Bensell initially studied with the artist John L. Lambdin. He and his brother Edmund also both attended and graduated from the Pennsylvania Academy of Fine Arts.
He is best known for his paintings and role in forming the Philadelphia Sketch Club. As an adult he lived in the Mount Airy neighborhood of Philadelphia. Bensell married, June 7, 1871, Josephine Crissman, of Milford, Pennsylvania.
They had three children, Paul, Sperry, and Grace Bensell, all of whom died young.
He died at the age of forty-two in Philadelphia. She died after a brief illness in October, 1907.
Afterwards he was named an Academician and was an instructor there. As an artist Bensell was primarily a painter, specializing in portraits, landscapes, historical and "poetical genre" subjects for a wealthy clientelle.
In 1860, while still students, the two brothers joined with four other students to form the Philadelphia Sketch Club, one of America"s oldest existing artists" clubs.
lieutenant first met in Bensell"s Philadelphia studio. A lifelong member, he served as its first president and held the office on two later occasions as well. The brothers" enthusiastic abolitionist feelings influenced its early political sentiments, and many of their early sketches were published in its popular publication, the Sketch Club Portfolio.