A new ‘attributed to Annie Swynnerton’ portrait has appeared for sale by auction at Mallham’s, Oxford, on 23 June, “Portrait of a lady wearing a fur trimmed maroon dress and with distant hills beyond,” a title which I’ve shortened to ‘Portrait of a lady wearing a fur-trimmed garment‘ for this web site.
ANNIE LOUISA SWYNNERTON (1844-1933) 
It certainly has her style about it
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After being allowed to study the work close up at the auction house, rather unsure. It’s a skilled work, and if by Annie a credit to her, but the surface has a strongly ridged and scored finish, as if painted with a coarse brush. If one of Annie’s earlier works I’d have expected the skin to have had an almost smooth finish. and if a later work, I’d expect the kaleidoscope effect of the rainbow palette of colours she used across the bumps of the canvas. There is no trace of a signature or initials.
On the plus side, it is a strong face, not made deliberately feminine or ‘pretty,’ well sculpted and with much detail in the irises (all characteristics of Annie), and her name can be discerned faintly in capital letters on the back of the frame. No date unfortunately.
So, nothing to positively point to Annie, but nothing to say it isn’t either! I didn’t think to ask about provenance, but as nothing in the catalogue or mentioned at the auctioneer’sm so I guess there is no trail. Annie painted many portraits, mostly lost, this being the mainstay of the Swynnerton’s household income, along with her husbands sculptural commissions.
A good picture, all the same and especially with cleaning would be a credit to any collection.
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