Images: Glasgow Museums.

Image: Royal Academy Illustrated.

• Title(s): A Dryad (Royal Academy catalogue; Glasgow Museums).
• Description: A woman sitting sideways on, face turned away, body in flesh tones, the surroundings dark green, blue and yellow.
• Media: Oil on canvas (Glasgow Museums); “oil painting” (Royal Academy catalogue 1928, p35).
• Dimensions: Canvas 32.8 x 29.8 x 0.17 cm; “unframed: 328 mm x 298 mm x 17” (Glasgow Museums).
• Signature/date/other text: None mentioned and none visible on images.
• History:
  • c. 1927-1928 (Glasgow Museums).
  • 1928 – Exhibited Royal Academy, London, no. 496, “Annie L. Swynnerton, A.” (Royal Academy catalogue 1928, p35).
  • 1940 – Bequeathed by Mrs Anna Jane MacLaren (Glasgow Museums).
• Location: Glasgow Museums Resource Centre (GMRC).

“… in Greek mythology, a nymph or nature spirit who lives in trees and takes the form of a beautiful young woman. Dryads were originally the spirits of oak trees (drys: “oak”), but the name was later applied to all tree nymphs. It was believed that they lived only as long as the trees they inhabited” (Encyclopedia Britannica).

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Thanks to Grant Waters for the Royal Academy Illustrated image.

Page last updated 29 Sep 2025.