Winifred Brunton

Who was Winifred Brunton?

Winifred Mabel Brunton née Newberry was an English-born painter, illustrator and Egyptologist.

Brunton was born in London. Her father Charles was the builder of Prynnsberg Estate. She became best known for her portraits of Egyptian pharaohs, published as Kings and Queens of Ancient Egypt and Great Ones of Ancient Egypt. She married Egyptologist Guy Brunton on 28 April 1906 and together they studied at University College London, during which time she painted a portrait of Flinders Petrie in 1912, which is now in the collection of UCL Art Collection. At UCL they trained with Margaret Murray, before travelling to Lahun in Egypt to join Flinders Petrie for fieldwork in 1912-14. Guy and Winifred both continued to contribute to excavations organised by Flinders Petrie's British School of Archaeology in Egypt in the 1920s at sites like Badari, with Winifred drawing many of the objects discovered for publication.

Brunton died, aged 78, in Clocolan, Free State, South Africa.