Born in Philadelphia, Bensell studied at the Pennsylvania Academy of the Fine Arts and with James Reid Lambdin.  He became a portrait, poetical genre, landscape and historical painter.  It was in his studio at 125 South 11^th Street on November 20, 1860, that the Philadelphia Sketch Club was formed.  He served as the club's first President and held that position twice afterwards.  He remained a member until his untimely death in 1879.  During his career he was also an instructor at the Pennsylvania Academy, where he was named an Academician.  His twenty-two page poem The Artist's Dream, which was written with Samuel Diffield in 1867 and illustrated by his brother, Edmund, is in the collection of the Historical Society of Pennsylvania.