Joseph William Swynnerton

Other names: Swinnerton

Born 6 July 1848
Died 8 August 1910

Active: 1854 - 1910

Country of birth and death: Great Britain

Sculptor, stone carver

Born Douglas, Isle of Man. He was the son of a successful stonemason and stone carver, Charles Swinnerton (1813-1907). Joseph was married to the painter Annie Louisa Robinson, ARA, the first woman to be elected to the Royal Academy. He died at The Smelt, Port St. Mary, Isle of Man.

The 'Manx Quarterly', No. 9, October 1910 carried the following obituary:

'In the death of Mr Joseph William Swynnerton, which took place at The Smelt, Port St. Mary, an August 8th, the Isle of Man has lost one of the most distinguished of her sons. A truly great sculptor, the dead artist had, by force of circumstances, to reside far from the land of his birth, but his heart ever beat for the island wherein he first saw light. Mr Swynnerton was perhaps the most talented member of a very talented family. His father, the late Mr Charles Swynnerton, who died at Port St. Mary about two years ago, for many years carried on business as a carver in stone in Douglas, and was himself no mean artist. Joseph was his third son, the others being Charles, a man of scholarly attainments, who entered the Church, and became a Government Chaplain in India; Robert (now dead), an art jeweller in the front rank of his calling; Mark, who, as a stone mason, made a name for himself in the United States; and Frederick, a painter who has achieved distinction.

'Joseph was born in Douglas on July 6th, 1848, so that at the time of his death he had just entered upon his sixty-third year. His education was received in Douglas, and was in great part the outcome of unaided application to study. On leaving school he was apprenticed to his father, and almost immediately gave such evidence of his artistic instinct, that he, while still a youth, was sent by his father to Edinburgh for the purpose of studying modelling. Thence he proceeded to Rome, and entering the art schools in that great centre of art [the Academy of St. Luke], had a distinguished career, in the course of which he was awarded several medals for ability and proficiency in sculpture by the then Pope, His Holiness Pius IX. On emerging from the student stage, he executed some very fine work, notably a Magdalen in bas relief, full of the tenderest feeling; a St. Winifrede, now in the church at Holywell ; a St. Francesca Romana, worked in coloured marbles, now in the famous Jesuit Church of Farm-street, London; a Mater Dolorosa. and a Christ at the Column, in the same church. His large fountain 'Immortal Youth', won the admiration of the chief artists of the day — Burne Jones, Alma Tadema, and Holman Hunt notably. This fountain was afterwards exhibited in Rome, and gained for the sculptor the grande medaille. Another fountain, 'Love's Chalice', at present in the Camberwell Gallery, is also a very fine and important piece of sculpture. His monumental work, however, is, the splendid statue of the late Queen Victoria, now at Southend. This noble presentment of the great monarch created quite a sensation in art circles.

'Other statues for which the late Joseph Swynnerton was responsible were those of Hugh Mason, at Ashton-under-Lyne, and Joseph Verdun. The Isle of Man contains at least three excellent specimens of Mr Swynnerton's work, in his bust of the late T. E. Brown, the Manx patriot-poet, now in the Douglas Free Library; that of the late Sir John Goldie-Taubman, Speaker of the House of Keys, now in the House of Keys; and that of the late Pierre Henri Josef Baume, who left a large sum for charitable purposes on the Island. It was as good as decided, too, by the committee which has in hand the memorial to the late Mr Arthur William Moore, Speaker of the House of Keys, that Mr Swynnerton should be commissioned to execute a bust of Mr Moore, to be placed in the Keys' Chamber.

'Mr Swynnerton, who for several years past has been resident in Rome, suffered from a heart complaint, and about a fortnight ago he came to Port St. Mary in the hope that the change would benefit his system. Realisation, however, failed to attend upon hope, and he passed away as stated, on Monday. In private life Mr Swynnerton was a most amiable, though somewhat reserved, gentleman, and of very kindly disposition. Very few of this generation knew him during his early days in the Isle of Man, but those who had that privilege speak highly of his sterling qualities. He is survived by his wife, who grieves sorely in her loss of an affectionate husband and a kindly and helpful life-companion. The funeral took place at Maughold Churchyard on August 11th.'

An article entitled 'A Manx Sculptor and his work' by his brother, the painter Frederick Swynnerton (1858-1918), from 'Mannin' (see below). This text contains a description of Joseph's life and work in Rome and the following list of works:

'Among his works may be mentioned '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; a colossal public statue of Queen Victoria, at Southend-on-Sea; 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. Among his notable busts of ladies were those of Mrs. Matheson in marble, and Mrs Boddington in bronze. This list, while not pretending to include all his works, shows that he possessed considerable versatility.'

The obituary can be accessed at: http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/mquart/mq09829.htm. The article entitled 'A Manx Sculptor and his work' by Frederick Swynnerton from 'MANNIN: a Journal of Matters Past and Present relating to Mann', vol. 3, 1914, p. 129 is online at http://www.isle-of-man.com/manxnotebook/mannin/v3p129.htm (both accessed 18 May 2013). This entry includes information submitted by Chris Mees, Editor of the online database, Arts: Search.

Citing this record

'Joseph William Swynnerton', Mapping the Practice and Profession of Sculpture in Britain and Ireland 1851-1951, University of Glasgow History of Art and HATII, online database 2011 [http://sculpture.gla.ac.uk/view/person.php?id=ann_1368884902, accessed 30 May 2023]