Art / Chinnery

GEORGE CHINNERY(°1774-†1852)

The first accounts of his paintings date from before 1796, the year when he moved from his birthplace, London, to Dublin where his reputation would grow as a miniaturist and portraitist.

In 1799 the artist married Marianne Vigne and in 1802 left for India, where he would settle for the next twenty-three years. In 1825 Chinnery set foot in Macao.

Most probably he felt comfortable in Macao from the very beginning as already in those days this Portuguese centre of entrepreneurial activity had a British resident colony which was mainly working for the English East India Company (EIC). His peripatetic ramblings through the streets and alleyways of Macao, frantically sketching the most popular incidents and typical aspects of the town, became legendary.

For the painter, the quiet urban landscapes and quaint populace of Macao must have been restful pictorial subjects through which he could alleviate the extreme concentration he required for painting oil portraits. And it is not by mere chance that most of these 'landscapes' of patios and squares, are watercolours -- the par excellence pictorial media of contemporary British painters, introduced to Europe in the age of the Grand Tour by fellow citizen artists.

The extraordinary position of Chinnery as a pioneering European painter settled in the Orient led him to pictorially capture, and transmit, altogether different earthly sensations from his European counterparts.

The period between Chinnery's departure to the Orient and his death in Macao, coincided not only with the the golden era of British Landscape Painting but also with times of great prosperity for Macao which saw its port transformed into one of the greatest trading stations of Asia and its social circles the summit of the Western culture in the Far East.

"It is the power of extracting the poetry from the prose of all objects in nature that constitutes the genius of both poetry and painting."

Considered the most influential nineteenth century Western artist in the East, he died in Macao after twenty-seven years of continuous residence in this land. He lies buried in the Protestant Cemetery of this city, a stone's throw away from the Jardim Luís de Camões (Camões Garden).

St. Paul's Church. GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852). 1834. Pencil and sepia ink paper. 17.2 cm x 17.9 cm. Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao. In: Macau•A invenção da paisageM, ill. 15.
St. Paul's Cathedral Ruins--detail. GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852). Terminus a quo 1852. Diazzo printing. 33.0 cm x 22.8 cm. Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao. In: Macau • A invenção da paisageM, ill. 13.

Praia Grande View.

GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852).

Terminus a quo 1852. Diazzo printing. 20.8 cm x 33.4 cm.

Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao.

In: Macau • A invenção da paisageM, ill. 23.

Praia Grande View.

GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852).

Terminus a quo 1825- terminus ad quem 1852.

Pencil on paper. 20.0 cm x 32.6 cm.

Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao.

In: Macau•A invenção da paisageM, ill. 24.

Praia Grande.

GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852).

Terminus a quo 1852. Diazzo printing. 20.8 cm x 33.4 cm.

Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao.

In: Macau• A invenção da paisageM, ill. 22.

Praia Grande View with Fortress of Bom Parto.

GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852).

1847-1848. Pencil on paper. 21.6 cm x 31.4 cm.

Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao.

In: Macau•A invenção da paisageM, ill. 26.

South View of Praia Grande.

GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852).

1835. Pencil on paper. 18.6 cm x 26.6 cm.

Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao.

In: Macau•A invenção da paisageM, ill. 25.

Street Scene with Two Portuguese Soldiers.

GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852).

1835. Pencil on paper. 21.4 cm x 20.0 cm.

Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao.

In: Macau•A invenção da paisageM, ill. 29.

Two Macanese Women followed by a servant holding an umbrella.

GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852).

1842. Pencil on paper. 13.1 cm x 12.2 cm.

Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao.

In: Macau • A invenção da paisageM, ill. 10.

Two Macanese Women and a Sketch on Baskets.

GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852).

1833. Pencil on paper. 18.0 cm x 14.5 cm.

Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao.

In: Macau • A invenção da paisageM, ill. 9.

Street View near St. Lawrence's Church.

GEORGE CHINNERY (°London, 1774-†Macao, 1852).

1839. Pencil on paper. 33.0 cm x 22.8 cm.

Leal Senado / Luís de Camões Museum, Macao.

In: Macau•A invenção da paisageM, ill. 30.

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