UK AUCTIONEER DISCOVERS CACHE OF FORGOTTEN DRAWINGS BY GEORGE CHINNERY An album of George Chinnery drawings discovered at a house clearance has prompted international interest after auctioneers estimated it could be worth more than £100,000.
and Chinnery inherited his father's gift of calligraphy and the use of a form of shorthand invented by Thomas Gurney in 1750.
Chinnery's drawings were used as his own reference works for subsequent large scale oil paintings; as samples for his clients to make commissions; for his pupils to trace and copy; as gifts for his friends and to sell to pay off his debts. Many bear the shorthand which note special features to remember, such as colours and shadows or simply areas to be improved.
Chinnery received classical training at the Royal Academy Schools and was a follower of the portrait painter Joshua Reynolds. By 1802, he had earned an early reputation as a portrait painter in Ireland. He stayed in India for 23 years, from 1802 to 1825 painting miniatures and portraits, a series of topographical etchings of temples and mosques, and pictures of boatmen, water-carriers and palanquin bearers. A grand portrait of the Kirkpatrick Children made him the principal Western artist in India, but his wife and his debts forced him flee to South China where he spent his remaining years until his death.
He settled in Macao where he sketched and painted the forts, junks moored along the coast, churches and temples, markets and streets, the grand Western houses and the makeshift dwellings of the fisherfolk, itinerant vendors and barbers, blacksmiths and boatwomen.
For further information about the sale, please contact Michael Perry at Capes Dunn on +44 (0)161 273 1911 or enquiries@capesdunn.com. IMages can be seen at www.capesdunn.com.
Capes Dunn & Co., is currently celebrating its 180th anniversary having been founded by William Capes and Williamson Dunn in 1826. As the cradle of the Industrial Revolution, Manchester was booming and Capes Dunn sales began to embrace all manner of fine art, paintings and furniture, while the rich eagerly bought books for status and education, elevating the auction house to the country's biggest auctioneer of libraries after Sotheby's.
They moved to their present salerooms at 38 Charles Street in 1973 and additionally, the company has an office on the Fylde Coast at 13 Queen Street, Lytham. Some 60 sales a year embrace such areas as fine furniture and clocks; Eastern carpets and rugs; paintings, watercolours and drawings; jewellery, silver and plate; watches and gold coins; European and Oriental ceramics, decorative arts and glass; books, prints and maps; musical instruments; toys and other collectors items such as textiles and costume, sporting and pop memorabilia, stamps, postcards, militaria, and photographica.
