George Chinnery (1774 - 1852)

• Was an English painter.
• Chinnery 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.
• George Chinnery moved in 1796 to Ireland, and married Marianne on 19 April 1799 in Dublin.
• In 1802 he sailed to Madras (Chennai) on the ship Gilwell.
• He established himself as a painter there and then in Calcutta, where he became the leading artist of the British community in India.
• From 1825 until his death in 1852 Chinnery based himself in Macau.
• He painted portraits of Chinese and Western merchants, visiting sea-captains, and their families resident in Macau.
• Chinnery also painted landscapes, and made numerous drawings of the people of Macau engaged in their daily activities.

• Other than artistic value, his paintings are historically valuable as he was the only western painter resident in South China between the early and mid 19th century.

• Among the subjects of his portraits are the Scottish opium traders William Jardine and James Matheson as well as the diarist Harriet Low.
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