The Grotto of Camões, Macau

During his time in India and on the China coast, Chinnery created innumerable drawings and watercolours of grottos and tombs that he later worked up into finished oils, often combining motifs and landscape elements to create his desired composition. Patrick Conner points out that the Picturesque movement was at its height while the artist was a student back in Britain, with romanticised depictions of ruined abbeys and castles very much in demand (op. cit., p. 137). Chinnery’s compositions are similarly idealised and rich in texture, with crumbling masonry and craggy rockfaces bathed in late afternoon or evening light. He was particularly preoccupied by the depiction of shadow, devoting a passage to its handling in his ‘Treatise’ on painting, where he states that ‘general shadow’ (cast by objects outside the composition) should occupy at least two-thirds or even three-quarters of the painting (ibid., p. 138).
Chinnery here applies his formula to a well-known monument, with great effect. Located within the grounds of the Casa, an impressive residence that looked over the inner harbour, the Grotto of Camões (or Camoens) was a popular attraction for visitors to Macau in Chinnery’s time. It was named for Luís Vaz de Camões (c.1524-1580), Portugal’s most notable poet; long-held tradition said that he had composed his epic Os Lusíadas in the grotto whilst living in Macau in exile for two years. Chinnery uses the figure of the herdsman to add his characteristically vivid touches of colour to the scene, and the golden light entering from the left allows him to brightly illuminate the rock formation while casting its interior into typically deep shadow.