Photos: Jonathan Russell.

• Title(s): The Debutante (Richard Taylor Fine Art).
• Description: portrait of a young woman wearing a black dress and long black gloves, a bouquet of yellow flowers on her left shoulder and more in her haur,
• Media: oil on canvas (Richard Taylor Fine Art).
• Dimensions: “48 x 29 inches” (Richard Taylor Fine Art).
• Signature/date/other text: signed “Annie L Swynnerton / 1891”.
• History:
  • 1891 – Signed and dated.
  • 2018-2019 – Exhibited Manchester Art Gallery, 23 Feb 2018 to 6 Jan 2019, on loan from Richard Taylor Fine Art, “It has been suggested that the sitter is  Elsie Elizabeth Ebsworth later Mrs George Swinton … commissioned on her engagement to her future husband, Mr George Swinton … Never exhibited … Provenance: Coursham Court, Wiltshire.” (Richard Taylor Fine Art.)
• Location:
  • Richard Taylor Fine Art.

The identity of the subject is uncertain, but she may be Elizabeth ‘Elsie’ Ebsworth, who married, four years after this portrait was painted, Scottish-born army officer and Conservative politician George Swinton. In 1897, now a professional singer and society hostess, Elizabeth was painted by Annie’s friend and supporter, John Singer Sargent.

Elizabeth Ebsworth by John Singer Sargent, 1897 (image: Art Institute Chicago).

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Page last updated to 17 Oct 2025.