Mezzotint/Engraving
Maker & role
Sir Francis Chantrey (b.1781, d.1841); R.A., Sculptor; Sir Joshua Reynolds (b.1723, d.1792), Engraver
Production date
circa 1815
See full details
Object detail
Title
John Rennie
Production place
Collection
Measurements
0 - Whole, H: 66.5 x W: 50.2cm (H: 665 x W: 502mm); Plate, H: 51.5 x W: 36.2cm (H: 515 x W: 362mm)
Subject person
Signature & marks
Top RH corner, pencil, handrwritten 'James Watt Esq'
Bottom LH corner of engraving 'Chambrey R A Sc'
Bottom RH corner of engraving 'Reynolds Eng'
Below bust of engraving 'JOHN RENNIE'
Verso RH corner, pencil, handwritten
Bottom LH corner of engraving 'Chambrey R A Sc'
Bottom RH corner of engraving 'Reynolds Eng'
Below bust of engraving 'JOHN RENNIE'
Verso RH corner, pencil, handwritten
Credit line
Gift, Members of the Historic Houses Trust of New South Wales, 2009
Elizabeth Bay House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Elizabeth Bay House Collection, Museums of History New South Wales
Caption
John Rennie (c1800)
Description
Engraved portrait depicting a bust (head and shoulders) on socle of prominent civil engineer John Rennie (1761-1821) set within an apsidal niche. The work depicts Rennie, with the distinctive tousled hair that characterises his portraits, in a classical costume with his head turned to the left. The name ‘John Rennie’ appears below the bust as though carved into the wall containing the niche. The engraving is after an original marble bust by Francis Legatt Chantrey, 1781-1841, commissioned by Rennie and subsequently gifted to the County of East Lothian (a near-identical bust by Chantrey [1818], on rectangular tablet base, is in the collection of the National Portrait Gallery [UK]).
Born in Phantassie, County of Lothian, Scotland, Rennie studied at the University of Edinburgh, part of the great ‘Scottish Enlightenment’ that saw the British and colonial civil services heavily populated with educated Scotsmen. Rennie’s engineering achievements included aqueducts and canals, the East and West India Docks in London, numerous bridges including the design of the Waterloo and London Bridges and the Plymouth Sound breakwater. (His association with the design of the Bell Rock lighthouse [1807-10] has, however, been greatly diminished in favour of colleague Robert Stevenson).
Portraits of significant politicians, academics, historical and literary figures, churchmen and reformers were published in folio and loose format, and commonly displayed framed in libraries and dining rooms. The recreated collection of such portraits at Elizabeth Bay House is based on the1859 inventory of pictures at Brownlow Hill (the Macleays’ country property) which is believed to include pictures sent from Elizabeth Bay House in 1845. A portrait of Rennie is included amongst the 1859 list, though the specific connection that existed between Alexander Macleay and Rennie is unknown. As such portraits were often given as gifts between friends or colleagues the two expatriate Scotsmen may have been associated, having met at the Royal Society of which they were both Fellows (Rennie was elected in 1798, Macleay in 1809), or professionally in London before Macleay departed for NSW (as Secretary of the Transport Board from 1806-15 Macleay likely had a professional involvement in the various Dock projects under Rennie’s direction). As Rennie died in 1821, before Macleay’s departure for NSW, it its possible that the Brownlow portrait was originally acquired as a memorial. A similar folio portrait, depicting the bust without the niche setting, was engraved by Henry Corbauld.
The portrait further interprets the activity of educated Scottish expatriates such as Macleay and reflects upon Macleay’s relationship with engineer Thomas Barker, a fellow Scot closely involved in Macleay’s financial difficulties following the depression of the 1840’s. The bust depicted in the engraving can be compared to the neoclassical style of the bust of William George Macleay at Elizabeth Bay House who is also shown in Grecian dress (bare chested and wearing a ‘himation’ rather than a Roman toga) and that of William Charles Wentworth at Vaucluse House (shown in Roman fashion, togate with tunic). Similar contemporary engravings of busts include that of architect Sir John Soane also after a bust (1829) by Chantrey.
Born in Phantassie, County of Lothian, Scotland, Rennie studied at the University of Edinburgh, part of the great ‘Scottish Enlightenment’ that saw the British and colonial civil services heavily populated with educated Scotsmen. Rennie’s engineering achievements included aqueducts and canals, the East and West India Docks in London, numerous bridges including the design of the Waterloo and London Bridges and the Plymouth Sound breakwater. (His association with the design of the Bell Rock lighthouse [1807-10] has, however, been greatly diminished in favour of colleague Robert Stevenson).
Portraits of significant politicians, academics, historical and literary figures, churchmen and reformers were published in folio and loose format, and commonly displayed framed in libraries and dining rooms. The recreated collection of such portraits at Elizabeth Bay House is based on the1859 inventory of pictures at Brownlow Hill (the Macleays’ country property) which is believed to include pictures sent from Elizabeth Bay House in 1845. A portrait of Rennie is included amongst the 1859 list, though the specific connection that existed between Alexander Macleay and Rennie is unknown. As such portraits were often given as gifts between friends or colleagues the two expatriate Scotsmen may have been associated, having met at the Royal Society of which they were both Fellows (Rennie was elected in 1798, Macleay in 1809), or professionally in London before Macleay departed for NSW (as Secretary of the Transport Board from 1806-15 Macleay likely had a professional involvement in the various Dock projects under Rennie’s direction). As Rennie died in 1821, before Macleay’s departure for NSW, it its possible that the Brownlow portrait was originally acquired as a memorial. A similar folio portrait, depicting the bust without the niche setting, was engraved by Henry Corbauld.
The portrait further interprets the activity of educated Scottish expatriates such as Macleay and reflects upon Macleay’s relationship with engineer Thomas Barker, a fellow Scot closely involved in Macleay’s financial difficulties following the depression of the 1840’s. The bust depicted in the engraving can be compared to the neoclassical style of the bust of William George Macleay at Elizabeth Bay House who is also shown in Grecian dress (bare chested and wearing a ‘himation’ rather than a Roman toga) and that of William Charles Wentworth at Vaucluse House (shown in Roman fashion, togate with tunic). Similar contemporary engravings of busts include that of architect Sir John Soane also after a bust (1829) by Chantrey.
Accession number
EB2009/3
Share
Subject
Media / Materials
Styles
Contact Us
Head Office
The Mint, 10 Macquarie St
Sydney, NSW 2000
On Gadigal land
T 02 8239 2288
TTY 02 8239 2377
E info@mhnsw.au
Public comments
Be the first to comment on this object record.