Christopher William Hunnemann or Christopher Wilhelm Hanneman (May 1755 – 21 November 1793) was a British portrait painter.
Life
Christopher Wilhelm Hanneman was born in May 1755 presumably near Hanover where his father was a court physician. He joined the Royal Academy in December 1773 and three years later he was awarded the academy's silver medal. He established himself as a portrait painter creating a half length portrait for Sir John Soane in 1776 (Some say 1779), which he called Portrait of a Young Artist. He gained work copying paintings in the collection of George III including work by Thomas Gainsborough.
From 1777 he was a habitual exhibitor of his work every year at the Royal Academy. The work was usually in miniature but could be in oils or crayon.L. H. Cust, ‘Hünnemann, Christopher William (1755–1793)’, rev. Annette Peach, Oxford Dictionary of National Biography, Oxford University Press, 2004 accessed 7 Sept 2013
Hunneman was living in Frith Street in Soho in 1790.'Frith and Bateman Street: Portland Estate: Frith Street', Survey of London: volumes 33 and 34: St Anne Soho (1966), pp. 151-166. URL: http://www.british-history.ac.uk/report.aspx?compid=41075 Date accessed: 08 September 2013 He died on 21 November 1793 in Soho. Causes of death are unclear, though some contemporary reports mention he died masturbating.Will of Christopher William Hunneman, Portrait and Miniature Pointer of Soho, Middlesex, National Archives, London, accessed 7 September 2013
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