Captain Sir Henry Chamberlain, 2nd Baronet (2 October 1796 – 8 September 1843) was a

British Army The British Army is the principal land warfare force of the United Kingdom, a part of the British Armed Forces along with the Royal Navy and the Royal Air Force. , the British Army comprises 79,380 regular full-time personnel, 4,090 Gurk ...

officer of the

Royal Artillery The Royal Regiment of Artillery, commonly referred to as the Royal Artillery (RA) and colloquially known as "The Gunners", is one of two regiments that make up the artillery arm of the British Army. The Royal Regiment of Artillery comprises t ...

and an artist whose series of drawings of Brazil were well known in his time. He was the second of the Chamberlain baronets, as the eldest son and heir of

Sir Henry Chamberlain, 1st Baronet Sir Henry Chamberlain, 1st Baronet (1773– 31 July 1829) was a British diplomat, consul general to Portugal and chargé d'affaires to Brazil. He was created a baronet on 22 February 1828. Henry was a natural son of the Honourable Henry F ...

, a British diplomat in

Brazil Brazil ( pt, Brasil; ), officially the Federative Republic of Brazil (Portuguese: ), is the largest country in both South America and Latin America. At and with over 217 million people, Brazil is the world's fifth-largest country by area ...

, and his first wife Elizabeth Harrod. While a lieutenant of the ''Royal Artillery'', he visited his father in

in 1819–20. While there, he painted a series of views and costumes of the city and neighbourhood of

Rio de Janeiro Rio de Janeiro ( , , ; literally 'River of January'), or simply Rio, is the capital of the state of the same name, Brazil's third-most populous state, and the second-most populous city in Brazil, after São Paulo. Listed by the GaWC as a b ...

. The

University of Oxford , mottoeng = The Lord is my light , established = , endowment = £6.1 billion (including colleges) (2019) , budget = £2.145 billion (2019–20) , chancellor ...

Centre for Brazilian Studies has an album of drawings by him, done during the years 1819 and 1820, with descriptive explanations. His watercolours formed the basis of a famous album of 36 lithographs, each accompanied by a detailed explanation of the particular subject, entitled ''Views and Costumes of the City and Neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro''. He tried to illustrate the entire range of Rio de Janeiro society, including slaves working on the streets. Art critics have noted a remarkable accuracy in his depictions of cityscapes, which have allowed a reconstruction of the layout of certain places, but the people that populate them appear rather flat. Chamberlain's art has been described as showing the humour typical of 18th-century English artists like

William Hogarth William Hogarth (; 10 November 1697 – 26 October 1764) was an English painter, engraver, pictorial satirist, social critic, editorial cartoonist and occasional writer on art. His work ranges from realistic portraiture to comic strip-like s ...

. He reached the rank of

captain Captain is a title, an appellative for the commanding officer of a military unit; the supreme leader of a navy ship, merchant ship, aeroplane, spacecraft, or other vessel; or the commander of a port, fire or police department, election precinct, e ...

, and served in New Zealand and

Bermuda ) , anthem = "God Save the King" , song_type = National song , song = " Hail to Bermuda" , image_map = , map_caption = , image_map2 = , mapsize2 = , map_caption2 = , subdivision_type = Sovereign state , subdivision_name = , e ...

, where he died in 1843. Chamberlain married on 11 May 1826, Harriet (died 30 April 1866), daughter of R. Mullen, lieutenant-colonel of the 1st Regiment of Foot. They had issue, including their son and heir Sir Henry Orlando Robert Chamberlain, 3rd Baronet (1828–1870).

References

{{DEFAULTSORT:Chamberlain, Henry, 2nd Baronet 1796 births 1843 deaths Baronets in the Baronetage of the United Kingdom Royal Artillery officers Painters from London British watercolourists