Edward Penny
   HOME

TheInfoList



OR:

Edward Penny (1 August 1714 – 16 November 1791) was an English portrait and historical painter, one of the founder members of the
Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House in Piccadilly London, England. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its ...
.


Life

He one of the twin elder sons of Robert Penny, surgeon, by Clare, daughter of William Trafford, of Swythamley,
Staffordshire Staffordshire (; postal abbreviation ''Staffs''.) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in the West Midlands (region), West Midlands of England. It borders Cheshire to the north-west, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, ...
, and was born at
Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town and civil parish in the Cheshire East district, in Cheshire, England; it is located south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and south-east of Warrington. The population of the parish at the 2021 Uni ...
,
Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in North West England. It is bordered by Merseyside to the north-west, Greater Manchester to the north-east, Derbyshire to the east, Staffordshire to the south-east, and Shrop ...
in 1714. He was sent to London and placed under the tuition of Thomas Hudson; later he went to Rome and studied under Marco Benefial. He returned to England about 1748, and began his professional career by painting small whole-lengths; later he painted more demanding subjects. Penny appears to have joined the Incorporated Society of Artists in 1762; but with
Benjamin West Benjamin West (October 10, 1738 – March 11, 1820) was a British-American artist who painted famous historical scenes such as ''The Death of Nelson (West painting), The Death of Nelson'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the ''Treaty of Paris ( ...
, Richard Wilson, and others, then withdrew because of internal frictions. In December 1768 he was nominated one of the foundation members of the Royal Academy of Arts, and its first professor of painting. He then ceased to exhibit, and was obliged by ill-health to resign the professorship of painting, in which he was succeeded by James Barry. Penny died at
Chiswick Chiswick ( ) is a district in West London, split between the London Borough of Hounslow, London Boroughs of Hounslow and London Borough of Ealing, Ealing. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist Wi ...
on 16 November 1791, and was buried with his wife at
Chessington Chessington is an area in the Royal Borough of Kingston upon Thames within Greater London, which was historically part of Surrey. At the United Kingdom Census 2011, 2011 census it had a population of 18,973. The Bonesgate Stream, a tributary of ...
,
Surrey Surrey () is a Ceremonial counties of England, ceremonial county in South East England. It is bordered by Greater London to the northeast, Kent to the east, East Sussex, East and West Sussex to the south, and Hampshire and Berkshire to the wes ...
.


Works

At the Exhibition of 1762 Penny exhibited a small whole-length of a lady and a scene in ''Jane Shore''. In 1763 he sent to the exhibition in Spring Gardens a scene from the ''Aminta'' of Tasso, and a small whole-length of George Edwards the ornithologist; in 1764, ''The Death of General Wolfe'', which was engraved by Richard Houston, and a scene illustrating
Jonathan Swift Jonathan Swift (30 November 1667 – 19 October 1745) was an Anglo-Irish writer, essayist, satirist, and Anglican cleric. In 1713, he became the Dean (Christianity), dean of St Patrick's Cathedral, Dublin, and was given the sobriquet "Dean Swi ...
's ''Description of a City Shower''; in 1765, ''The Marquess of Granby relieving a Sick Soldier'', engraved by Richard Houston, and ''The Return from the Fair''; in 1767, ''The Husbandman's Return from Work''; and in 1768, ''The Generous Behaviour of the Chevalier Bayard'', engraved by William Pether. To the first Royal Academy Exhibition of 1769 he contributed the smithy scene from Shakespeare's '' King John'', which was engraved by Houston, and to that of 1770 ''Imogen discovered in the Cave''. In Exhibition of 1772 he exhibited ''Lord Clive explaining to the Nabob the Situation of the Invalids in India'', and ''Rosamond and Queen Eleanor''; in 1774, ''The Profligate punished by Neglect and Contempt'' and ''The Virtuous comforted by Sympathy and Attention'', a pair engraved by Valentine Green; in 1776, ''Jane Shore led to do Penance at St. Paul's''; in 1779, ''The Return from the Chase''; in 1780, ''Apparent Dissolution'' (sold according to information in the Witt Library, London, wrongly catalogued as by Walton, 'A Mishap' by Christies, New York, USA) and ''Returning Animation'' (English private collection) a pair engraved by William Sedgwick; in 1781, ''Lavinia discovered gleaning''; and in 1782, ''The Benevolent Physician'', ''The Rapacious Quack'', and ''Widow Costard's Cow and Goods, distrained for rent, are redeemed by the generosity of Johnny Pearmain''. He was the author of a course of lectures on the art of painting. They were never published, but were left by his will to his nephew, the Ven. George Buckley Bower, archdeacon of Richmond.


Family

Penny married, after 1753 and before 1768, Elizabeth, daughter of John Simmons of
Millbank Millbank is an area of central London in the City of Westminster. Millbank is located by the River Thames, east of Pimlico and south of Westminster. Millbank is known as the location of major government offices, Burberry headquarters, the Mill ...
, Westminster and widow of Richard Fortnam, who possessed valuable leasehold property on the Grosvenor estate in London. She died at Chiswick in 1791.


References

* etheses.whiterose.ac.uk/4677 ;Attribution


External links

* {{DEFAULTSORT:Penny, Edward 1714 births 1791 deaths 18th-century English painters Artists from Cheshire English male painters People from Knutsford English history painters English portrait painters Royal Academicians 18th-century English male artists