Annie Swynnerton

Annie Louisa Swynnerton, ARA ( Robinson; 26 February 1844 – 24 October 1933) was a British painter best known for her portrait and symbolist works. She studied at Manchester School of Art and at the Académie Julian, before basing herself in the artistic community in Rome with her husband, the monumental sculptor Joseph Swynnerton. Swynnerton was influenced by George Frederic Watts and Sir Edward Burne-Jones. John Singer Sargent appreciated her work and helped her to become the first elected woman member at the Royal Academy of Arts in 1922. Swynnerton painted portraits of Henry James and Millicent Fawcett. Her main public collection of works are in Manchester Art Gallery, but individual works are also held in a few other English cities, as well as can also be seen in Glasgow, Dublin, Paris, and two in Melbourne, Australia. Annie was a close friend of leading suffragists of the day, notably the Pankhurst family.

Early life Annie Louisa Robinson was born in Hulme, Manchester in 1844. Her place of birth is also given as Kersal and Salford. Her parents were Francis Robinson, a solicitor, and Ann Sanderson. Her sisters Julia and Emily also studied at Manchester School of Art, recorded as being prize-winning students in The Manchester Guardian in 1873 (24 Dec, p8.)

Swynnerton's works incorporated aspects of Neoclassicism, Pre-Raphaelitism and Impressionism. She was also adept at painting children. and Louisa Garrett Anderson.

She painted portraits of people close to the Garretts, including Henry James and Rev. William Gaskell, husband of novelist Elizabeth Gaskell. Swynnerton's work was also exhibited at other national and international exhibitions, including Aberdeen, Doncaster, Huddersfield, Manchester, and Chicago and Pittsburgh. Swynnerton was included in the 2018 exhibit Women in Paris 1850–1900.

Suffragism She was an active supporter of the women's suffrage movement of the time, and was a signatory to the 1889 National Union of Women's Suffrage Societies' Declaration in Favour of Women's Suffrage.

Collections

Collection Location Works Aberdeen Art Gallery & Museums Aberdeen, Scotland Landscape with Trees Ashmolean Museum of Art and Archaeology Oxford, England Head of a Bacchante Birmingham Museums Trust Birmingham, England Assisi Bradford Museums and Galleries Bradford, England Oceanid Brighton and Hove Museums and Art Galleries Brighton, England Girl with a Lamb Cheltenham Art Gallery & Museum Cheltenham, England Oil Sketch of a Pony Gallery Oldham Oldham, England Cupid and Psyche Glasgow Museums Glasgow, Scotland A Dryad The Soul's Journey: The Soul's Awakening Manchester Art Gallery Manchester, England An Italian Mother and Child Crossing the Stream S. Isabel Dacre The Dreamer Reverend William Gaskell Illusions Interior of San Miniato, Florence Italian Landscape Montagna Mia The Olive Gatherers Rain Clouds, Monte Gennaro Mrs A. Scott-Elliot and Children The Southing of the Sun The Town of Siena The Vagrant Metropolitan Museum of Art New York City Dream of Italy, owned by the museum in 1933 Musée d'Orsay Paris, France Mater Triumphalis National Gallery of VictoriaMelbourne, Australia New-risen Hope The Lady in White. National Museums Liverpool Liverpool, England The Sense of Sight Nottingham City Museums and Galleries Nottingham, England Mrs Florence H. Musgrave Royal Academy of Arts London, England The Letter Royal Holloway, University of London London, England Geoffrey and Christopher Herringham Salford Museum & Art Gallery Salford, England Tryst Tate Gallery London, England The Convalescent Count Zouboff Dame Millicent Fawcett, CBE, LLD Miss Elizabeth Williamson on a Pony New Risen Hope Oreads