(b Kersal, nr Manchester, 1844; d Hayling Island, 24 Oct 1933). English painter. She studied at the Manchester School of Art, then in Paris and Rome, where in 1883 she married the sculptor Joseph Swynnerton (1848–1910); she lived there until his death. Her themes are often allegorical in the manner of G. F. Watts (e.g. New Risen Hope, 1904; London, Tate), and some of her landscapes include allegorical figures, as in the Soul’s Journey (1925; untraced, see RA Illus., 1925, p. 15). Such works as Rain-clouds, Monte Gennaro (1904; Manchester, C.A.G.) reveal Swynnerton’s interest in tone and atmosphere; her use of colour is bright and clear, often opalescent in effect. She incorporated into her style the loose brushwork of Impressionism. Her portrait, Bessie, Wife of Colonel Massey (1926; untraced, see RA Illus., 1926, p. 72), is reminiscent of Walter Sickert in its approach to space and pattern through the handling of the walls and angle of the piano at which Bessie sits. Swynnerton was a member of the Society of Women Artists (1887), the Royal Society of Portrait Painters (1891) and the New English Art Club (1909). She exhibited at the Royal Academy, London, from 1879 and in 1922 was elected ARA, the first woman to achieve this status since Mary Moser and Angelica Kauffman became founder-members in 1768. She also exhibited at the Grosvenor and New Galleries, both in London.

• Swynnerton, Annie Louisa
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