John Macallan Swan

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

[1] His picture The Prodigal Son, bought for the Chantrey collection in 1889[2] (and now in the Tate Britain), established his reputation as an artist.

[2] A master of the oil, water-colour and pastel mediums, an accomplished painter and a skilful draughtsman, he ranked also as a sculptor of ability, having worked in nearly every material.

He treated the human figure with notable power, but it was by his representations of the larger wild animals, mainly the felidae, that he chiefly established his reputation.

[4] His subjects in oil include animals, figures, and landscapes, and are distinguished by massive, simple treatment, and a strongly imaginative element.