36 Facts About John Hennings

John Hennings was a German-born theatrical scene painter and theatre manager active in Melbourne, Australia, from the mid-1850s to the early 1890s.

John Hennings worked for a number of theatre managers in productions ranging across opera, drama and pantomime.

For much of his career John Hennings was closely associated with the Theatre Royal in Melbourne and in 1867 he joined a consortium of actors to take over the lease of the theatre.

John Hennings was involved in theatre management with various partners until the early 1880s.

John Hennings was known for his dramatic visual imagination, attention to detail and skillful representation of perspective in the production of backdrops, panoramas and transformation scenes.

Johann Friederich John Hennings was born on 6 July 1835 in Bremen, northern Germany, to Danish-born parents, the "prominent merchant" Johann John Hennings and his wife Caroline.

John Hennings specialised in the painting of flower and fruit panels.

In 1854 John Hennings was working in Belgrade, the capital of Serbia, but hostilities in the wider region which led to the Crimean War had caused employment difficulties.

John Hennings' brother had previously emigrated to Australia and on several occasions he wrote to Johann urging him to do likewise.

In John Hennings' words: "Finding my prospects at home to be not very brilliant, and getting no better very fast, I determined to go to Australia".

John Hennings departed from Hamburg on 22 April 1855 aboard the Neumuhlen, carrying 131 passengers, and arrived at Melbourne in the colony of Victoria on 2 August.

Pitt and John Hennings were the scenic artists responsible for the acclaimed scenery.

John Hennings formed a relationship with Ellen Targett, an English-born ballet dancer, who had arrived in Melbourne in October 1857.

John Hennings painted the scenery for the Gougenheim sisters' production of Fortunio at Melbourne's Princess's Theatre, which opened in late December 1857.

In May 1858 John Hennings' scene-paintings for The Queen of the Frogs at Princess's Theatre was described in the following terms: "Each picture is a gem, alike effective, artistic, and original".

John Hennings developed and maintained strong links with the German community in Melbourne.

John Hennings painted the scenes for the 1861 Christmas pantomime Valentine and Orson at the Theatre Royal.

In October 1862 it was reported that John Hennings was in charge of the decorators making alterations to the interior of the Theatre Royal.

John Hennings produced new scenery for James Simmonds' production of The Enchantress at the Royal Haymarket Theatre in March 1863.

John Hennings maintained an interest in fine art and was a member of the Victorian Society of Fine Arts.

John Hennings remained as the principal scene-painter at the Theatre Royal under Sullivan's management until February 1866, when Sullivan played his last night and relinquished management of the theatre.

In February 1867 John Hennings became involved in theatre management when he joined with five others, all actors, to take over the lease of the Theatre Royal.

John Hennings contribution to the celebrations was a transparency at the Theatre Royal, measuring thirty by twelve feet, which depicted Britannia holding a banner inscribed with the Royal arms and riding in a vehicle drawn by sea-horses, surrounded by boys holding baskets of flowers.

John Hennings contributed painted scenes to the 1870 Christmas pantomime, The Babes in the Wood, or Harlequin Robin Hood staged in the Prince of Wales Theatre in Sydney.

In June 1872 work commenced to rebuild the theatre and the partnership of Coppin, Harwood, Stewart and John Hennings was reconstituted to manage the new Theatre Royal.

The decorations of the new theatre were designed by John Hennings who supervised a team of six to carry out the work.

In June 1880 John Hennings became a co-lessee, with George Coppin and JR Greville, of Sydney's Royal Victoria Theatre in Pitt Street.

John Hennings's scenery was a feature of the Christmas pantomime for 1880, Sinbad the Sailor, at the Theatre Royal in Melbourne.

In January 1888 it was reported that John Hennings had been confined to a private hospital "through a dangerous affliction with his eyesight".

In May 1888 it was reported that John Hennings was further incapacitated after he fell and broke his leg.

An article in The Age newspaper in early March 1889 disclosed that "within the last few years" John Hennings had "lost most of his savings through investments in Fiji".

John Hennings painted the scenery for a revival of Antony and Cleopatra which opened at Melbourne's Her Majesty's Opera House in early November 1889.

John Hennings was one of four artists involved in painting the "mammoth picture".

In 1892 John Hennings was commissioned by the Victorian Exhibition Trustees to paint a cyclorama of early Melbourne to be displayed in the Exhibition buildings in Carlton Gardens.

John Hennings died of chronic pneumonia at his home at 40 Victoria Avenue, Albert Park, on 13 October 1898, aged 63.

John Hennings named as his executor his "reputed daughter, Florence Targett, known as Kitty Hennings".