"Coolies Reading a Proclamation"

Na imagem ao lado um dos muitos registos que George Chinnery fez enquanto viveu em Macau com o título "Cules lendo uma proclamação em Macau".

"Coolies Reading a Proclamation, Macao" antique print from a salvaged 1927 copy of magazine "The Studio"- An Illustrated Magazine of Fine & Applied Art (vol. 94) from an oil painting by George Chinnery ca. 1840.

George Chinnery (Chinese: 錢納利; 5 January 1774 – 30 May 1852) was an English painter who spent most of his life in Asia, especially southern China. 

Chinnery was born in London, where he studied at the Royal Academy Schools. 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.

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. At the time, westerners were restricted in their access to China, trading out of settlements in Macau and later Hong Kong, where Chinnery also went - His interest in the local scene does indeed set him apart from most western artists of the time. 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 there.

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. He vividly depicted the life of ordinary people and the landscape of the Pearl River Delta at that period.

Substantial collections of Chinnery's drawings are to be found in London in the Victoria and Albert Museum and the British Museum; and in Salem, Mass., at the Peabody Essex Museum. Other notable groups are held in Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, UK; the Hong Kong Museum of Art; the Macau Museum; and the Macau Museum of Art.