Joseph William Swynnerton was born in Douglas, Isle of Man [1] on 6 July 1848 and was the son of Charles Swinnerton (1813-1907), a stonemason and stone carver. After training with his father, he furthered his artistic knowledge by visiting Edinburgh and Rome where he studied at the art schools and was awarded several medals for ability and proficiency in sculpture. While in Rome he met and subsequently married the artist Anna Louisa Robinson (1844-1933) later to become better known as Anna Louisa Swynnerton. Swynnerton spent much of his time working on commissions, arguably the most well-known of which was a 20ft. sculpture of Queen Victoria. It was presented to the town of Southend-on-Sea in 1897 on the occasion of the Queen's Diamond Jubilee, and busts of bust of T.
Other sculptural commissions included 'Cain'; 'Cupid and Psyche'; 'Cain and Abel', an amplification of 'Cain'; 'Hiawatha and Minnehaha', a fine group executed for Benjamin Whitworth, Esq., Manchester; 'The Victor', now, I believe, in Peel Park collection, Manchester; 'Immortal Youth', a large fountain twenty feet high, of graceful design surmounted by a group of three life-sized youths. This last was greatly admired by many of our leading artists, and after the Royal Academy was exhibited at Rome in the National Exhibition and was awarded the medal. 'Love's Chalice', another fountain, remarkable for the beautiful figure of the faun, now in the Camberwell Gallery; 'Santa Francesca Romana', a statue in coloured marbles, a return to ancient and mediaeval usage, and a 'Christ Bound', both in the Jesuit Church, Farm Street, London; a colossal bust of Cromwell; a colossal bust of Garibaldi, to model which he visited the hero at his home in the Island of Caprera, — both these in Peel Park collection; 'St Winifred' for Holywell, which had to be carried into the Vatican to be inspected by the Pope, on which occasion he had a long talk with Pope Leo XIII; one of Hugh Mason, etc., Ashton-under-Lyne; another of Joseph Verdun, Northwich; busts of many public men as Lord Russell; the Nizam of Hyderabad, and Vicar-ul-Mulk, Hyderabad; Abel Heywood, Mayor of Manchester, Manchester Town Hall; a bust in plaster of Mr. Hall Caine, a splendid likeness; various half-life size statues as Virginia'; 'Ganymede'; 'Mona'; 'St.John'; 'Daniel'; ideal busts and bas-reliefs [Source: 'A Manx Sculptor and his work' by Frederick Swynnerton, MANNIN: a Journal of Matters Past and Present relating to Mann, vol. 3, 1914, p. 129]
Swynnerton exhibited at the Grosvenor Gallery, New Gallery and Royal Academy in London; the Walker Art Gallery in Liverpool; Royal Birmingham Society of Artists; Royal Glasgow Institute of the Fine Arts; and at Manchester City Art Gallery.
He lived in Rome for some years, however, following a heart condition he returned to the Isle of Man and died at Port St. Mary on 8 August 1910
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[1] His place of birth is sometimes given as Liverpool, England, however, the Isle of Man Census of 1861 gives it as Douglas, Isle of Man.
Text source: Arts + Architecture Profiles from Art History Research net (AHRnet) https://www.arthistoryresearch.net/
