The Life and Artistic Evolution of Gerrit Benner Born in Leeuwarden, Netherlands, Gerrit Benner was a painter and draftsperson whose career spanned several decades. After attending vocational school to train as a carpenter, he studied marble drawing under Hendrik Wadman and later attended an evening drawing course. His early professional life included working as a traveling leather goods salesman and operating a shop where he provided portrait sketches to customers. Following a period of personal hardship and a depressive crisis that led him to destroy many of his early works, Benner began a…