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 on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

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 landlocked county in the West Midlands region of England. It borders Cheshire to the northwest, Derbyshire and Leicestershire to the east, Warwickshire to the southeast, the West Midlands Cou ...

, and was born at

Knutsford Knutsford () is a market town in the borough of Cheshire East, in Cheshire, England. Knutsford is south-west of Manchester, north-west of Macclesfield and 12.5 miles (20 km) south-east of Warrington. The population at the 2011 Census wa ...

Cheshire Cheshire ( ) is a ceremonial and historic county in North West England, bordered by Wales to the west, Merseyside and Greater Manchester to the north, Derbyshire to the east, and Staffordshire and Shropshire to the south. Cheshire's county t ...

in 1714. He was sent to London and placed under the tuition of Thomas Hudson; later he went to Rome and studied under Marco Benefiale. 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 The Society of Artists of Great Britain was founded in London in May 1761 by an association of artists in order to provide a venue for the public exhibition of recent work by living artists, such as was having success in the long-established P ...

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'', ''The Death of General Wolfe'', the '' Treaty of Paris'', and '' Benjamin Franklin Drawin ...

, 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 of west London, England. It contains Hogarth's House, the former residence of the 18th-century English artist William Hogarth; Chiswick House, a neo-Palladian villa regarded as one of the finest in England; and Full ...

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. Historically part of Surrey, today it is the largest salient of Greater London into that county. At the 2011 census it had a population of 18,973. Th ...

Surrey Surrey () is a ceremonial and non-metropolitan county in South East England, bordering Greater London to the south west. Surrey has a large rural area, and several significant urban areas which form part of the Greater London Built-up Area. ...

Works

In 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 TASSO (Two Arm Spectrometer SOlenoid) was a particle detector at the PETRA particle accelerator at the German national laboratory DESY. The TASSO collaboration is best known for having discovered the gluon, the mediator of the strong interaction an ...

, 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 Satire, satirist, author, essayist, political pamphleteer (first for the Whig (British political party), Whigs, then for the Tories (British political party), Tories), poe ...

'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 William Pether (c. 1739 – 19 July 1821) was primarily an English mezzotint engraver, but also decorated porcelain, made oil paintings and pastel drawings, and invented gadgets. Life He was born in London in 1739, and became a pupil of Thom ...

Edward Penny - Marquess of Granby 1721-70 relieving a sick soldier c

To the first exhibition in 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 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 Valentine Green (3 October 173929 July 1813) was a British mezzotinter and print publisher. Green trained under Robert Hancock, a Worcester engraver, after which he moved to London and began working as a mezzotint engraver. He began to exhibit ...

; 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 George Buckley Bower (1748–c.1800) was an English churchman and academic. He was Archdeacon of Richmond from 1797 until his death. Life He was the son of Buckley Bower, an attorney in Stockport. He was born there, baptised there on 30 June 1 ...

archdeacon of Richmond The Archdeacon of Richmond and Craven is an archdiaconal post in the Church of England. It was created in about 1088 within the See of York and was moved in 1541 to the See of Chester, in 1836 to the See of Ripon and after 2014 to the See of ...

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 Millb ...

, Westminster and widow of Richard Fortnam, who possessed valuable leasehold property on the

Grosvenor estate Grosvenor Group Limited is an internationally diversified property group, which traces its origins to 1677 and has its headquarters in London, England. It has a global reach, now in 62 international cities, with offices in 14 of them, operated on ...

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 English male painters People from Knutsford History painters English portrait painters Royal Academicians 18th-century English male artists