Portrait of the painter John Macallan Swan

John Macallan Swan (9 December 1846 – 14 February 1910) was an English painter and

sculptor Sculpture is the branch of the visual arts that operates in three dimensions. Sculpture is the three-dimensional art work which is physically presented in the dimensions of height, width and depth. It is one of the plastic arts. Durable sc ...

Biography

Swan was born in

Brentford Brentford is a suburban town in West London, England and part of the London Borough of Hounslow. It lies at the confluence of the River Brent and the Thames, west of Charing Cross. Its economy has diverse company headquarters buildings whi ...

, Middlesex, on 9 December 1846. He received his art training first in England at the Worcester and Lambeth schools of art and the

Royal Academy The Royal Academy of Arts (RA) is an art institution based in Burlington House on Piccadilly in London. Founded in 1768, it has a unique position as an independent, privately funded institution led by eminent artists and architects. Its pur ...

schools, and subsequently in Paris, in the studios of

Jean-Léon Gérôme Jean-Léon Gérôme (11 May 1824 – 10 January 1904) was a French painter and sculptor in the style now known as academicism. His paintings were so widely reproduced that he was "arguably the world's most famous living artist by 1880." The ran ...

and

Emmanuel Frémiet Emmanuel Frémiet (6 December 182410 September 1910) was a French sculptor. He is famous for his 1874 sculpture of Joan of Arc in Paris (and its "sister" statues in Philadelphia and Portland, Oregon) and the monument to Ferdinand de Lesseps in S ...

. He began to exhibit at the Academy in 1878. His picture ''The Prodigal Son'', bought for the Chantrey collection in 1889 (and now in the

Tate Britain Tate Britain, known from 1897 to 1932 as the National Gallery of British Art and from 1932 to 2000 as the Tate Gallery, is an art museum on Millbank in the City of Westminster in London, England. It is part of the Tate network of galleries in ...

), established his reputation as an artist. He married artist Mary Rankin Swan in Ireland in 1884 and had two children with her, including sculptor Mary Alice Swan. He was elected associate in the

in 1894 and academician in 1905. He was appointed a member of the Dutch Water-Colour Society in 1885; and associate of the Royal Society of Painters in Water Colours in 1896 and full member in 1899. He was awarded first class gold medals for painting and sculpture in the Paris Exhibition, 1900.

Work

A master of the

oil An oil is any nonpolar chemical substance that is composed primarily of hydrocarbons and is hydrophobic (does not mix with water) & lipophilic (mixes with other oils). Oils are usually flammable and surface active. Most oils are unsaturated ...

water-colour Watercolor (American English) or watercolour (British English; see spelling differences), also ''aquarelle'' (; from Italian diminutive of Latin ''aqua'' "water"), is a painting method”Watercolor may be as old as art itself, going back to t ...

and pastel mediums, an accomplished painter and a skilful draughtsman, he ranks also as a sculptor of distinguished ability, having worked in nearly every material. He has treated the human figure with notable power, but it is by his representations of the larger wild animals, mainly the

felidae Felidae () is the family of mammals in the order Carnivora colloquially referred to as cats, and constitutes a clade. A member of this family is also called a felid (). The term "cat" refers both to felids in general and specifically to the ...

, that he chiefly established his reputation; in this branch of practice he has scarcely a rival.

Painting

His subjects in oil include animals, figures, and landscapes, and are distinguished by massive, simple treatment, and a strongly imaginative element. Noted examples include: *''Ocelot and Fish'' *''Tigers'' *''Tigers Drinking'' *''Ceylon Leopards'' *''Lions'' *''Lioness Defending Her Cubs'' *''Polar Bear Swimming'' A Black-Maned African Lion - John Macallan Swan - ABDAG003754

A Black-Maned African Lion - John Macallan Swan - ABDAG003754

Sculpture

The modeling in his sculptured works is broad, flexible, and naturalistic. Here he has been compared with

Antoine-Louis Barye Antoine-Louis Barye (24 September 179525 June 1875) was a Romantic French sculptor most famous for his work as an ''animalier'', a sculptor of animals. His son and student was the known sculptor Alfred Barye. Biography Born in Paris, France, B ...

. Noted examples include: *''The Jaguar'' *''Puma and Macaw'' *''Wounded Leopard'' *''Leopard Running'' * The eight bronze lions and bust of

Cecil Rhodes Cecil John Rhodes (5 July 1853 – 26 March 1902) was a British mining magnate and politician in southern Africa who served as Prime Minister of the Cape Colony from 1890 to 1896. An ardent believer in British imperialism, Rhodes and his Br ...

Rhodes Memorial The Rhodes Memorial on Devil's Peak in Cape Town, South Africa, is a memorial to the English-born South African politician Cecil John Rhodes (1853–1902). The memorial was designed by the renowned architect, Sir Herbert Baker. Location The mem ...

Cape Town Cape Town ( af, Kaapstad; , xh, iKapa) is one of South Africa's three capital cities, serving as the seat of the Parliament of South Africa. It is the legislative capital of the country, the oldest city in the country, and the second largest ...

South Africa South Africa, officially the Republic of South Africa (RSA), is the southernmost country in Africa. It is bounded to the south by of coastline that stretch along the South Atlantic and Indian Oceans; to the north by the neighbouring countri ...

Notes

References

* ;Attribution * This work in turn cites: ** A. L. Baldry, "The Work of J. M. Swan" in ''The Studio'', vol. xxii. **''Drawings of John M. Swan, R.A.'' (George Newnes, Ltd.)

External links

* *
The Prodigal Son
(

Tate Tate is an institution that houses, in a network of four art galleries, the United Kingdom's national collection of British art, and international modern and contemporary art. It is not a government institution, but its main sponsor is the U ...

collections)
Profile on Royal Academy of Arts CollectionsBoy Piping to the FishesBuried at St John's Churchyard, Niton, Isle of Wight
{{DEFAULTSORT:Swan, John 1846 births 1910 deaths People from Brentford English sculptors English male sculptors 19th-century English painters English male painters 20th-century English painters English watercolourists 20th-century British sculptors 19th-century British sculptors Royal Academicians 20th-century English male artists 19th-century English male artists