Brenda Bury (born 1932)[1] is an English professional portrait artist based in Toronto.[2][3] She has painted members of the British Royal Family, the aristocracy, and politicians in the British and Canadian governments.[4][5] She has painted Queen Elizabeth II, Margaret Thatcher and John Diefenbaker.[6] Her portrait of Kenneth Tynan is in the National Portrait Gallery, London.[7] Bury is married to John Polanyi.[5]
Bury was born in Brierley near Barnsley, England in 1932.[8] When she was seven years old she won a National Savings painting competition and, at 12, won a youth club painting competition.[2] She later studied Fine Art at the University of Reading with Antony Betts where she received her Bachelor of Fine Arts. As a student, she was given brushes originally owned by James McNeill Whistler by a Reading University Professor.[8]