Sir Henry Chamberlain, 2nd Baronet

Sir Henry Chamberlain Bt
Born	October 2, 1796 London
Died	September 8, 1843 (aged 46) Bermuda
Allegiance	United Kingdom
Service/branch	British Army
Years of service	ca. 1815–1843
Rank	Captain
Unit	Royal Artillery
Spouse(s)	Harriet Mullen
Relations	Sir Henry Chamberlain, 1st Baronet (father)

Captain Sir Henry Chamberlain, 2nd Baronet (2 October 1796 – 8 September 1843) was a British Army officer of the Royal Artillery 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, a British diplomat in Brazil, and his first wife Elizabeth Harrod.^[1]

While a lieutenant of the Royal Artillery, he visited his father in Brazil in 1819–20. While there, he painted a series of views and costumes of the city and neighbourhood of Rio de Janeiro, Brazil. The University of Oxford 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.^[2] 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.^[3]

He reached the rank of captain, and served in New Zealand and Bermuda,^[3] 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).^[1][4]

References

1. Townend, Peter, ed. (1970). Burke's Peerage, Baronetage and Knightage (105th ed.). London. p. 516.
2. Bethell, L. (2003). "The British Contribution to the Study of Brazil" (PDF). Working Paper Series. University of Oxford Centre for Brazilian Studies. Archived from the original (PDF) on 15 October 2006.
3. "Chamberlain, Henry (1796–1844)". Encyclopaedia Itaú Cultural: Visual Arts. São Paulo: Itaú Cultural. 25 September 2013.
4. Lodge, E. (1859). The Genealogy of the Existing British Peerage and Baronetage. Hurst and Blackett. p. 636.