Betty Swanwick, R.A. (1915-1989)

Paddy Rossmore comments that 'William Blake talks of a place where contrarieties are equally true, and the picture 'The Peaceable Kingdom' illustrates a coming together or union of opposites: light and dark, weak and strong, hunter and hunted, male and female. It also depicts a fruitfulness of such a union. A symbol in an earlier picture which acts as a forerunner of this idea is the caduceus in 'The Retreat'[see lot 39]. The two snakes entwined together round a rod represent the coming together of two aspects of the snake; one healing, one poisonous. The wings would represent transendence' (P. Rossmore, Betty Swanwick; Artist and Visionary, London, 2008, p. 62).