Images: Woolley and Wallace.

Although ‘attributed’ in the auction catalogue, the signature is indeed very typical of Annie’s. A note on the back reads, “Annie Swynnerton / 1st woman RA / of view … park of Rottingdean.” The ‘mountain’ (auction catalogue description) in the background may therefore be Beacon Hill on the edge of Rottingdean or any of the hills nearby.

Ernest Alden, the name on the other label, was a well known frame-maker, from a whole family in the same profession.

• Media: oil on canvas.
• Dimensions: 510 x 410 mm (0.21 m²).
• History: auctioned Woolley and Wallace, 31 May 2022, “Attributed to Annie Swynnerton (1844-1933) / View along a garden path with a mountain in the distance / Indistinctly signed and inscribed To Lady L**rs from An S****ton (to stretcher),” unsold.
• Location: vendor.

Note: Rottingdean was the home of Annie’s friend and champion Edward Burne-Jones and his wife Georgiana from 1880 onwards. The latter became Lady Burne-Jones in 1894, or just Lady Jones (the surname was not originally hyphenated), so I do wonder if the dedication on the back could actually be “To Lady Jones,” but the inscription is too illegible. The auction house reads it as “To Lady L**rs.” (Jonathan Russell.)

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