BOOK REVIEWS
129
of the artist, is well known. It is impossible to reconcile this story with the statement, made without citation from any authority and no supporting evidence, that "Mrs. Chinnery did in fact follow him to Canton, but when she attempted to land she was not permitted to do so and was obliged to stay aboard ship, where she caught smallpox and died". If the name of the ship, the date, or any reference to the Canton newspapers or to the records of the English graveyard at Macao can be produced in support, this event will be new history. Without proof, it must be denied.
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All will agree with the statement without question, he (Chinnery) stands alone for his work on the China Coast. Here he had no peer". However, it is curious that no other European artist who visited the Pearl River area is mentioned by name. True "none stayed for very long". Yet they were sound painters. The success of Webber, artist to the Cook Expedition, the Daniell brothers, and Borget all prior to Chinnery—as illustrators of travel books, undoubtedly spurred Chinnery in his efforts to have his pictures reproduced.
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While the engraving of Morrison after Chinnery is noted, the Sartain stipple of Howqua and the pleasant colored lithograph of the Praya Grande at Macao by Reinagle and Hullmandel, both after Chinnery, are not mentioned.
Four signatures of Chinnery are shown. They vary quite widely, but this fact is overlooked apparently, and there is no attempt to reconcile or evaluate.7
In speaking of Lamqua, the Chinese painter, it is stated “In 1850 he consigned a group of portraits of Chinese merchants to Boston, for exhibition at the Atheneum". Compare this with the actual facts. Five portraits of Chinese merchants by Lamqua were exhibited in the Boston Athenaeum (please, we "Proprietors” of this private library are sensitive about correct spelling) in 1850. They were the property of Augustine Heard, partner in Russell & Co., and were distributed under his will. They are all in existence
Page 48.
5 Page 20.
6 Page 38.
* Page 57, Plates 6, 7 & 24 top.
BOOK REVIEWS
129
of the artist, is well known. It is impossible to reconcile this story with the statement, made without citation from any authority and no supporting evidence, that "Mrs. Chinnery did in fact follow him to Canton, but when she attempted to land she was not permitted to do so and was obliged to stay aboard ship, where she caught smallpox and died". If the name of the ship, the date, or any reference to the Canton newspapers or to the records of the English graveyard at Macao can be produced in support, this event will be new history. Without proof, it must be denied.
<<
•
+
All will agree with the statement
without question, he (Chinnery) stands alone for his work on the China Coast. Here he had no peer". However, it is curious that no other European artist who visited the Pearl River area is mentioned by name. True "none stayed for very long". Yet they were sound painters. The success of Webber, artist to the Cook Expedition, the Daniell brothers, and Borget all prior to Chinnery
all prior to Chinnery—as illustrators of travel books, undoubtedly spurred Chinnery in his efforts to have his pictures reproduced.
+
While the engraving of Morrison after Chinnery is noted, the Sartain stipple of Howqua and the pleasant colored lithograph of the Praya Grande at Macao by Reinangle and Hullmandel, both after Chinnery, are not mentioned.
Four signatures of Chinnery are shown. They vary quite widely, but this fact is overlooked apparently, and there is no attempt to reconcile or evaluate.7
In speaking of Lamqua, the Chinese painter, it is stated “In 1850 he consigned a group of portraits of Chinese merchants to Boston, for exhibition at the Atheneum". Compare this with the actual facts. Five portraits of Chinese merchants by Lamqua were exhibited in the Boston Athenaeum (please, we "Proprietors” of this private library are sensitive about correct spelling) in 1850. They were the property of Augustine Heard, partner in Russell & Co., and were distributed under his will. They are all in existence
+ Page 48.
5 Page 20.
6 Page 38.
* Page 57, Plates 6, 7 & 24 top.
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