THE SENSE OF SIGHT (1895).

See also The Sense of Sight (1898).

Photos: Jonathan Russell (taken while on display during Painting Light and Hope exhibition, Manchester Art Gallery, 2018-2019).

  • Title(s): The Sense of Sight (artuk.org; multiple other sources).
  • Description: the upper body of a winged female figure, clothed, hands held out in front of her, gaze directed upwards, in the background sheep grazing, backed by a body of water with mountains in the far distance, the disc of the sun partly showing on the horizon on the right.
  • Media: oil on canvas (artuk.org).
  • Dimensions: “H 87.3 x W 101 cm” (artuk.org).
  • Signature/date/other text: signed “Annie L Swynnerton / 1895” on front of canvas, bottom right.
  • History:
    • 1895 – Signed and dated, 1895.
    • 1895 Jan – Exhibited Manchester Academy (Manchester Evening News, 19 Jan 1895, p3).
    • 1895 – Exhibited Society of Women Artists, London (reference?).
    • 1895 Sep – Exhibited Liverpool Autumn Exhibition [The Isle of Man Times and General Advertiser, 3 Sep 1895].
    • 1896 – Sold “since the closing of the Autumn Exhibition … £250 [£29,000 at Nov 2025 value]” (Liverpool Mercury, 2 Jan 1896); Gifted to the Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool by Charles J. Procter (artuk.org).
    • 1911 – Exhibited Royal Scottish Academy (reference?).
    • 1915 – Exhibited Glasgow Institute (reference?).
    • 1923 – Exhibited Manchester Art Gallery – Paintings by Mrs Swynnerton.
    • 1988 Feb to Apr 15 – Exhibited Manchester Art Gallery – Women’s Works – Paintings, Drawings and Prints by Women Artists in the Permanent Collection at the Walker Art Gallery (The Guardian, 25 Feb 1988).
    • 2018 Feb -2019 Jan – Exhibited Manchester Art Gallery – Painting Light and Hope, 23 Feb 2018 to 6 Jan 2019.
    • 2025 Jun-Sep – Exhibited at The Clark Art Institute, Williamstown, Massachusetts, USA, 14 Jun to 14 Sep, in the exhibition A Room of Her Own: Women Artist-Activists in Britain, 1875-1945.
  • Location: Walker Art Gallery, Liverpool.

“It is the first picture in a set of four which the artist has designed to illustrate the senses” (The Liverpool Mercury, 31 Aug 1895, p5). There is not record of any other works in this ‘series’ having been executed.

There are two versions of this image, this one in Liverpool Art Gallery, dated 1895, and another formerly in the Summerfield Collection, dated 1898. The latter is called The Angel of the Annunciation in the Summerfield Collection auction catalogue in 1989, but The Sense of Sight when auctioned again in 1992. Both auctions were by Christie’s.

sense-angel

The 1895 and 1898 version compared:

Page last updated 24 July 2025.