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George Chinnery
George Chinnery

George Chinnery

English, 1774 - 1852
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George Chinnery was an English painter who spent most of his life in Asia, especially India and southern China.

Chinnery was born in London, where he studied at the Royal Academy Schools. His father was an exponent of the Gurney system of shorthand; his elder brother William Chinnery owned what is now Gilwell Park in Epping Forest in Essex, before he was discovered to have committed large-scale fraud, and fled to Sweden. George Chinnery moved in 1796 to Ireland, where he enjoyed some success as an artist, and married Marianne (née Vigne) on 19 April 1799 in Dublin.

Chinnery returned to London in 1801 without his wife and two infant children. In 1802 he sailed to Madras (Chennai) on the ship Gilwell. He established himself as a painter there and then in Calcutta (Kolkata), where he became the leading artist of the British community in India.

By 1813 Chinnery was a freemason, listed as a member of Calcutta's well-to-do masonic lodge Star in the East. This was one of three masonic lodges in that city which took part in the official welcome for Lord Moira (1754-1826), also a freemason, on his arrival there (1813) as the new Governor-General of India. Chinnery's masonic career is otherwise little documented, and its connection with his artistic output unexplored.

Some of his most famous paintings are of the Indian family of Colonel James Achilles Kirkpatrick British Resident to the Nizam of Hyderabad who had set up home, to some scandal among his fellow Europeans, with the Indo-Iranian great niece of the Nizam of Hyderabad's chief minister. He painted The Kirkpatrick Children presenting them " [with a] sympathy that is rare in portraiture of the period; the boy looking straight at the viewer with a self-conscious stance, hand on hip, while the girl looks uncomfortably at the floor." Mounting debt prompted a move in 1825 to southern China.

From 1825 until his death in 1852 Chinnery based himself in Macau, but until 1832 he made regular visits to Canton (now Guangzhou). He painted portraits of Chinese and Western merchants, visiting sea-captains, and their families resident in Macau. His work in oil paint was closely imitated by the Cantonese artist Lam Qua, who himself became a renowned portrait painter. Chinnery also painted landscapes (both in oils and in watercolours), and made numerous drawings of the people of Macau engaged in their daily activities.

In 1846 he made a six-month visit to Hong Kong, where he suffered from ill health but made detailed studies of the newly founded colony. He died in Macau on 30 May 1852 and is buried in the Old Protestant Cemetery there.

116 items

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A landscape in Macau with a herdsman by a lake

A landscape in Macau with a herdsman by a lake

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Landscape
A market outside the railings of St. Dominic’s Church, Macau

A market outside the railings of St. Dominic’s Church, Macau

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Landscape
A watchman at a lookout post, Bengal

A watchman at a lookout post, Bengal

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Landscape
Madras, a street scene

Madras, a street scene

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Landscape
Rocks and overgrown masonry, Bengal

Rocks and overgrown masonry, Bengal

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Landscape
Unknown Man

Unknown Man

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Figurative
Tanka boat off Macao

Tanka boat off Macao

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Landscape
A Chinese Peasant

A Chinese Peasant (1839)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Admiral Sir Edward Pellew

Admiral Sir Edward Pellew (first quarter 19th century)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Village Hut in India (recto)

A Village Hut in India (recto) (1814-1824)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Antiquities of Dacca

Antiquities of Dacca (1814-1827)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Chinese Junk

A Chinese Junk

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Dog

A Dog

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Family Group Around a Piano

A Family Group Around a Piano (between 1812 and 1815)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Forge

A Forge (1843)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Man throwing a Ball to a Dog

A Man throwing a Ball to a Dog

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Market Place and Crowd

A Market Place and Crowd

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Peasant with Cattle

A Peasant with Cattle (1843)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Pipul Tree

A Pipul Tree

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Sailor and His Family

A Sailor and His Family

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
An Elephant

An Elephant

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
An Indian Torrent

An Indian Torrent (1804)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Building on a Hillside in a Mountainous Village

Building on a Hillside in a Mountainous Village

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Chinese Boats

Chinese Boats (1834)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Chinese Coolies Demolishing a Building

Chinese Coolies Demolishing a Building (1833)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Chinese Coolies reading a Proclamation

Chinese Coolies reading a Proclamation (1841)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Chinese Father and Child with Dog

Chinese Father and Child with Dog (1827)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Coast Scene with Fishermen and Buildings, Macao

Coast Scene with Fishermen and Buildings, Macao (1843)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Equestrian Studies of an English Officer

Equestrian Studies of an English Officer

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Gamblers Playing Dice

Gamblers Playing Dice (1842)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
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