The Sense of Sight

Swynnerton was a leading artist of the late 19th and early 20th centuries, specialising in Symbolist pictures. Here, Swynnerton plays between physical and spiritual senses of sight. The young woman with feathered wings looks up, enraptured, at something out of our view. A fleck of golden light is reflected in her eyes. It is unclear whether she is looking at something natural or supernatural. Swynnerton wrote a letter to the Walker Art Gallery about this painting. She describes explaining the meaning of the painting to the previous owner, Charles Proctor, who had lost most of his vision.