PROPERTY OF THE RALPH LESLIE SWINDEN FAMILY ESTATE

RALPH LESLIE SWINDEN ARCA (BRITISH 1888–1967)
The Elizabethan Eras; (Portrait of Elizabeth II & Elizabeth I) (1953)
oil on canvas
90 x 90 cm

PROVENANCE:

Studio of the artist, Grandfather of the present owner thence by descent.

The Elizabethan Eras, painted to commemorate Elizabeth 2^nd coronation in 1953 is a finished study for a larger version now held in Darlington Art Gallery and Library. Commissioned as one of nine other large paintings by the artist of local historical events and interest to the community.

Ralph Leslie Swinden, born in Meriden, Connecticut USA, was a muralist, portrait painter and decorative artist and teacher. He studied at Sheffield School of Art in Yorkshire from 1902, graduating to The Slade School of Fine Art, there taught under Fred Brown and Ambrose McEvoy, and at The Royal College of Art where his teachers included Gerald Moira and W R Lethaby. He was awarded ARCA in 2011.

Upon graduation he taught at Torquay School of Art and Portsmouth College of Art before moving to Darlington, County Durham, where he settled, serving as the Principal Art Master at Darlington School of Art from 1928 until 1953. Swinden's wife Sybil de Bernier Smart, like her husband has work in Darlington Art Gallery.

He worked on church restoration in Torquay and Darlington, where the local authorities bought his work. He exhibited at the Royal Academy, Victoria & Albert Museum and extensively in the provinces, being chairman of Teesside Art Association.

(Artists in Britain Since 1945 by David Buckman)