BLACKHEAD LIGHTHOUSE.

[Posted 2 Nov 2021.]

BLACKHEAD LIGHTHOUSE / ‘COASTAL SCENE’ IS BY ANNIE I. L. M. ROBINSON, NOT ANNIE LOUISA SWYNNERTON.

A WATERCOLOUR was for sale by auction (passed) in Ireland, listed as by “Annie Swynnerton (1844-1933)”.

  • Media: watercolour.
  • Size: drawing 53.8 x 74.1 cm, frame 63.5 x 81.3 cm.
  • History:
    • 2014 – Auctioned Adam’s, Dublin, 9 Mar, lot 563, “53.5 x 73.5cm … ANNIE LOUISA ROBINSON SWYNNERTON (1844-1933) Coastal Landscape with Cliffs and Lighthouse Watercolour / Signed Together with [three other works]”, passed.
    • 2021 – Auctioned Morgan O-Driscoll’s, Dublin, 1 Nov, lot 218, “Annie Louisa SWYNNERTON (1844-1933) / Drawing-Watercolor / Watercolour/paper / 54.5 x 75 cm / signed lower left / Provenance: Private Collection”, passed.
    • 2023 – Auctioned Ross’s Auctioneers and Valuers, Belfast, 13 Sep, lot 256, “Artist: Annie Swynnerton / Title: ‘BLACKHEAD LIGHTHOUSE’ / Size: H 21″ x W 29″ (H 25″ x W 32″) / Medium: WATERCOLOUR DRAWING / Signature: SIGNED / Framed: YES / Condition: FOXING ON THIS WATERCOLOUR”, sold: hammer £20.
  • Location: ?

Thanks to a remarkable piece of research and piecing together of information by Alastair Swinnerton, the actual artist is identified as one Annie Lyle Robinson …

… a Belfast hotel keeper … (born 1897, don’t know what the other initials stand for), older sister to the Flora JC Robinson mentioned in the article [www.thegazette.co.uk]. They were partners in the Shaftesbury Hotel Belfast, and the article is about the dissolving of their partnership in 1949 … the location [is] Blackhead Lighthouse on the Antrim coast, walking distance from Forthill, Templecorran where Annie ILM was living at the time of the 1911 census.

Many thanks. I had seen the piece before but never listed it on this site because it was so unlike any of ‘our’ Annie’s work. I had, however, begun theorizing that it was one of her early watercolours, and that she perhaps had additional previously unrecorded middle names, or was just being creative with her signature. Shows how wrong one can be!

Thanks to Morgan O’Driscoll auctioneers for their communication.

[Posted 11 Dec 2021.]

BLACKHEAD LIGHTHOUSE.

THANKS to the owner of the painting offered at auction at Morgan o’Driscoll [dead link], 1 Nov 2021. The painting had been erroneously attributed to Annie Swynnerton, but the correct artist has been identified as one Annie I. L. M. Robinson, a Belfast hotelier and evident watercolour artist. (Research by Alastair Swinnerton.)

The owner visited the location identified – Blackhead Lighthouse, County Antrim – and took the photo below, showing the scene virtually unchanged.

Page last updated 27 May 2025.