Brenda Bury is a portrait artist who was born, educated, and trained in England. She took an Honours Degree in Fine Art at the University of Reading in order to study with Anthony Betts, himself a pupil and friend of Sargent, Whistler and Sickert. Brenda began her professional life by painting Lord and Lady St. Oswald at their estate, Nostell Priory in Yorkshire. Throughout their lives, these, her first sitters, were her friends and patrons. Brenda Bury took a studio in London's Chelsea, but before doing this, she went to Canada for just over a year, where she painted portraits, beginning with the then Prime Minister Mr. Diefenbaker. In 1964, she painted Lord Mountbatten of Burma at his house, Broadlands. He became an enthusiastic supporter of her work, and it was he who was able to arrange for her to paint the Queen. She now works on both sides of the Atlantic from her base in Toronto where she lives with her husband, scientist John Polanyi.
Published
Good