Explore: Benjamin Green

(c.1739 - 1798)

Benjamin Green was from Shropshire. After his elder brother, James, succeeded George Vertue as engraver for Oxford University and the Society of Antiquaries, he took over engraving the University almanacs, producing plates for those of 1760-62 and 1766. In 1762 he was appointed Assistant Drawing Master to Christ’s Hospital (charity school) in Newgate, becoming Drawing Master in 1766. He exhibited with the Incorporated Society of Artists (1765-74) and became a director in 1771. He engraved nine large mezzotints after works by George Stubbs. After 1771 Green mostly engraved plates for books on drawing, but also made etchings after his own landscapes and was one of the first to use soft ground etching. He died at Christ’s Hospital, aged c.59.