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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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Goats Beneath a Banana Tree

Goats Beneath a Banana Tree (1840)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Illustration to Fielding’s Amelia

Illustration to Fielding’s Amelia

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Indian Fishing Boats

Indian Fishing Boats (after 1819)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Lady Louisa Duncombe on Horseback

Lady Louisa Duncombe on Horseback (1824)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Lap House, Inner Harbor, Macao

Lap House, Inner Harbor, Macao (1841)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Lap House, Inner Harbour, Macau

Lap House, Inner Harbour, Macau (1841)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Miss Louisa Georgiana Murray

Miss Louisa Georgiana Murray (after 1826)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Monte Fort, Macao

Monte Fort, Macao

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Natives Hauling a Boat

Natives Hauling a Boat

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Old Man and Children Seated, Cooking

Old Man and Children Seated, Cooking (1840)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Old Man Leaning on a Stick

Old Man Leaning on a Stick

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Peasant Seated by a Doorway

Peasant Seated by a Doorway (1842)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Self Portrait

Self Portrait (1848)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Street Scene with Merchants Selling Wares

Street Scene with Merchants Selling Wares (ca. 1843)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Studies of Chinese Junks and Boatmen

Studies of Chinese Junks and Boatmen

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Studies of Horses with Chinese Grooms, and a Dog

Studies of Horses with Chinese Grooms, and a Dog (1840)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Thatched Building in a Wood

Thatched Building in a Wood (1814)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Three Cows Tethered

Three Cows Tethered (1818)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Young Coolie with a Basket

Young Coolie with a Basket (1845)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Young Indian Nurse with English Child

Young Indian Nurse with English Child

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A street in Macao

A street in Macao

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

A Chinese Barber

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
The Ear Specialist

The Ear Specialist

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
Three studies of a Chinese barber

Three studies of a Chinese barber (1840)

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

A sketch of a market outside the railings of St. Dominic’s Church, Macau (1841)

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
A Hong merchant, seated in an interior

A Hong merchant, seated in an interior

George Chinnery (English, 1774 - 1852)
Drawings
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