Master Smith by Andrew Benjamin Lens,
signed, circa 1750.

  Accompanying the miniature is a note with the following message, Supposed to be the portrait of one of the sons, not the youngest, (the baby) in the Smith family picture (sold) and photographed. Painted by George West in 1735.  Not Benjamin, but the baby was my Great Grandfather.  Ethel Weeks to dear Phyllis 22 July 1941.   The miniature and note are housed in a jewelry box from the company of Arthur E. Weeks, The Modern Jeweller, 3 Mikado Buildings, Elm Grove, Southsea.

 Set in a gold locket frame, the glazed reverse with blue glass topped by the gold cut initials MS, surrounded by a braid of hair, signed in monogram lower right.

1 5/8 inches (4.1 cm) high.

Andrew Benjamin Lens (c.1713-after 1779), the fourth generation of a family of painters, was the second son of Bernard Lens III.  Instructed by his father, Lens painted very much in the same style.  Additionally, he painted portraits, mythological subjects and worked as an engraver.  Lens exhibited at the Society of Artists and the Free Society.  Bernard Lens' portrait of Andrew Benjamin Lens is in the collection of the Victoria & Albert Museum.

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