Leopards at Rest

Cuthbert Edmund Swan was born in Ballyragget, Co Kilkenny, Ireland. He was educated at Seaford College, Sussex before he and his brother Edwin went on to study at the Academie Julien in Paris. On their return to London they settled in Camden Town. He spent some time in India and was particularly fond of painting big cats, especially leopards. He taught animal drawing at the Central School of Arts and Crafts and exhibited at the Royal Academy, Royal Society of Oil Painters, Paris Salon and elsewhere. Works by him are in the collections of Birmingham Museum and Art Gallery, Llandudno Museum and elsewhere. A Bombay label on the stretcher of this picture suggests if may have been painted during his visit to India.