Skip to main content

The Descent of the Swan: PD.58-1993

An image of Painting
View image details Mirador icon - view image Mirador deep zoom IIIF Manifest IIIF Manifest Slow looking

Terms of use

The low-resolution images published on this Website are made available under a Creative Commons Attribution licence (CC BY-NC-ND). For more details: Fitzwilliam Terms of Use

This licence does not include any images of works that are still in copyright. Artistic copyright extends from the life of the artist to 70 years from the end of the calendar year in which the artist died.

Download this image

For further information on use of images or to license a high resolution version, please contact our image library who can discuss terms and fees.

Alternative views

An image of Painting
An image of Painting
Current Location: In storage

Titles

The Descent of the Swan

Maker(s)

Painter: Ward, James

Entities

Categories

Notes

History note: Briton Rivière R.A., (by 1885); F. Holbrooke; Christie's, 23 March 1923 (58); H.W. Atherton; Sotheby's. 14 June 1950 (149); H. Noel Whiting; Christie's, 27 March 1981 (28)

Acquisition and important dates

Method of acquisition: Given (1993) by Reed, Anthony

Note

An allegory to illustrate Peter Coxe's The Social Day.

School or Style

British

Materials used in production

Oil paint

Components of the work

Support composed of panel (wood)
Frame Depth 6 cm Height 49 cm Width 45.4 cm
Panel Height 34.9 cm Width 31.1 cm

Techniques used in production

Painting (image-making) : Oil on panel

References and bibliographic entries

Related exhibitions

Identification numbers

Accession number: PD.58-1993
Primary reference Number: 4013

Audit data

Created: Saturday 6 August 2011 Updated: Friday 1 November 2024

Associated departments & institutions

Owner or interested party: The Fitzwilliam Museum
Associated department: Paintings, Drawings and Prints

Citation for print

This record can be cited in the Harvard Bibliographic style using the text below:

The Fitzwilliam Museum (2025) "The Descent of the Swan" Web page available at: https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/4013 Accessed: 2025-12-05 06:15:35

Citation for Wikipedia

To cite this record on Wikipedia you can use this code snippet:

{{cite web|url=https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/id/object/4013 |title=The Descent of the Swan |author=The Fitzwilliam Museum|accessdate=2025-12-05 06:15:35|publisher=The University of Cambridge}}

API call for this record

To call these data via our API (remember this needs to be authenticated) you can use this code snippet:

https://collection.beta.fitz.ms/api/v1/objects/object-4013

Bootstrap HTML code for reuse

To use this as a simple code embed, copy this string:

<div class="text-center">
    <figure class="figure">
        <img src="https://data.fitzmuseum.cam.ac.uk/imagestore/pdp/pdp3/PD_58_1993.jpg"
        alt="The Descent of the Swan"
        class="img-fluid" />
        <figcaption class="figure-caption text-info">The Descent of the Swan</figcaption>
    </figure>
</div>

Sign up for updates

Updates about future exhibitions and displays, family activities, virtual events & news. You'll be the first to know...

University of Cambridge Museums logo
Cambridge City Council logo
Arts Council England Logo
Research England logo