A Panther Crouched on a Rock

Swan studied at Lambeth School of Art and the Royal Academy Schools. He also studied in Paris at the Ecole des Beaux-Arts under Jean-Leon Gerome and the sculptor Emmanuel Fremiet. He exhibited at the Royal Academy from 1878 and also at the Grosvenor Gallery, New Gallery and elsewhere. He is best known for his studies of lions, tigers and leopards, either in bronze, pastel or oil. He was awarded a first class gold medal for painting and sculpture in the Paris Exhibition, 1900. He became a member of the Royal Academy in 1905, was a member of the Vienna and Munich secessions, the Art Workers Guild and several painting societies. He lectured on various technical subjects and in 1906 published a treatise on metal work in the Journal of the Royal Institute of British Architects. In 1907 Swan was commissioned to model eight lions and an over life size portrait bust of Cecil Rhodes for a memorial at Groote Schuur, Cape Town. The memorial was completed posthumously after Swan’s sudden death at Thatches, Niton, Isle of Wight in 1910.