Alexander Bening
Illustration — August by Alexander and Simon Bening, Biblioteca Marciana Alexander Bening (died 1519), also Sanders Bening, was an early 16th-century miniature painter of the Ghent-Bruges school and Netherlandish tradition. His date of birth is unknown. Bening was part of a South Netherlandish family of illuminators.
Also recorded as Alexander Benig · Sanders Bening · Alexander Beninc
Alexander Bening

Alexander Bening · idlespeculations-terryprest · Public domain
- Born
- 1444 · Ghent.
- Died
- 1519 · Ghent.
- Nationality
- Southern Netherlands
- Occupation
- painter · illuminator · artist · draftsperson
- Known for
- Grimani Breviary · Rothschild Prayerbook
VALÉORINE Encyclopedia
VALÉORINE documentary reading
Documentary summary
Illustration — August by Alexander and Simon Bening, Biblioteca Marciana Alexander Bening (died 1519), also Sanders Bening, was an early 16th-century miniature painter of the Ghent-Bruges school and Netherlandish tradition. His date of birth is unknown. Bening was part of a South Netherlandish family of illuminators.
Admitted source layer · organised and presented by VALÉORINE
Reference Check
Propose documentary evidence for Alexander Bening. A contribution is never written directly as fact: identity, source, rights and evidence gates still decide.
Sign in to contribute
World of VALÉORINE
Documentary connections
Only confirmed graph relationships appear here. Images are shown only when their identity and reuse rights both pass the documentary gate.
Documentary evidence
Documentary basis
Authority files
wikidata · Q4718348 · wikipedia · Alexander Bening
In this article
Biography
Biography
He married Kathelijn van der Goes (probably a sister or niece of the painter Hugo van der Goes). Bening had two sons: Simon Bening, who was trained in his father's craft, and Paul Bening, whose profession is unknown. No documented work is known by Bening. Records indicate in 1469 he became a member of the Guild of Saint Luke. Sanders and his family lived in Ghent, but in 1486 he also joined the Bruges Guild of St John and St Luke, whose membership embraced all those concerned with the production of books. His daughter Cornelia married Andrew Halyburton, Conservator of Scottish privileges in the Netherlands. It has been suggested that Bening himself was related to a family of artists surnamed "Binning" working in Edinburgh later in the sixteenth century. Some scholars identify the Master of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian with Alexander Bening.
Simon Bening is recorded as having studied under Alexander Bening. Places of work recorded in the authority are Ghent and Bruges. Works named in the authority record are Grimani Breviary and Rothschild Prayerbook. Work by Alexander Bening is recorded in the collections of J. Paul Getty Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Museum Mayer van den Bergh and Royal Library of Belgium.

Master of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian 1520.
Master of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian

This manuscript was illuminated by a circle of at least five highly organized manuscript painters active in the Flemish cities of Ghent and Bruges. The principal illuminator was Alexander Bening, who painted the majority of the book's miniatures. Manuscripts produced by this circle of artists are renowned for the decoration of their borders, which typically feature a rich variety of realistically-
Alexander Bening
Life and career
Dated record
Life and career
The full dated record · 2 entries
1444
Alexander Bening born at Ghent.
1519
Alexander Bening died at Ghent.
Notes from the source article
Cited by Wikipedia
Notes from the source article
These works are cited by the source article, in its own numbering. They are recorded as its citations, not as sources VALÉORINE has verified.
- 1.Bening Family of Artists.
- 2.Alexander Bening Brief Biography.
- 3.Fleming, Alexander & Mason, Roger (Eds.) (2019), Scotland and the Flemish People, Birlinn, Edinburgh, p.62
- 4.David MacRoberts, 'Notes on Scoto-Flemish artistic contacts', Innes Review, 10:1 (1959), pp. 91–6
- 5.Artistic Exchanges between Scotland and Flanders.
- 6.Master of the First Prayer Book of Maximilian's page at Getty.
References
Citations
References
Each reference names the institution holding it, so a reader may go to the document itself.
reference work
Wikidata, structured authority record Q4718348: Alexander BeningWikimedia Foundation
Secondary witnessreference work
Secondary witness
Further particulars
Held on the record
Further particulars
Open the remaining particulars
The authorities additionally record the headings Alexander Benig, Sanders Bening and Alexander Beninc. One child is recorded: Simon Bening. Formation and teaching. Each of those relationships is stated by the authority record rather than inferred from style.
Identity and origins
Recognition and collections
Work by Alexander Bening is
J. Paul Getty Museum, Cleveland Museum of Art, Museum Mayer van den Bergh and Royal Library of Belgium
The Encyclopedia exists whether or not anything is for sale. Corrections are recorded rather than overwritten, and every version of this record is kept. Published 16 August 2026.
Elsewhere in Paintings
19,183 published records in this field, each with its sources named.
- Alexander AksininArtist
- Alexander Alexeyevich BorisovArtist
- Alexander Bazhbeuk-MelikyanArtist
- Alexander BeggrovArtist
- Alexander BogomazovArtist
- Alexander BrookArtist
- Alexander Brownlie DochartyArtist
- Alexander BruckmannArtist
Best supported in this field
For owners
Own a work by Alexander Bening?
A specialist will read what you send and tell you what the house can establish, what it cannot, and whether the object is suited to sale. There is no charge and no obligation. The object stays with you throughout; nothing is shipped to us unless it is arranged in writing beforehand.