End of the School Day
Framed (ref: 413)
oil on paper
Provenance: The Artist's Studio
Mahoney bought the best quality materials, often from Lechertier Barbe, in Jermyn Street. He prepared boards and canvases for painting with much care, using special recipes. In his own words: “The practical lesson to be learned is that ground and underpainting always have some effect on the final painting, even when it is not apparent, and that pictures must be carefully built up with this point in mind.” His oil paints were artist’s colours, which he applied with Hogshair and Sable brushes. He made extensive notes on pigments so that he was familiar with the chemical properties of each colour. For his mural schemes he mixed his oil paints with wax, applied to canvas that had been fixed to the wall before painting commenced. His favourite frames were purchased in the 50s and 60s from Robert Savage of South Kensington. These were beautifully made from a wide choice of mouldings and colourways.
The tin building and the house behind appear to be one property. Paul Stamper has suggested that it is likley less likely to be a tin tabernacle (church) than a tin school - the children including the boys with grey jumpers in the ‘playground’, and are the children on bikes also on their way home. This would mean the associated house was probably the teacher’s. That is the most distinctive structure: just three bays, baffle entry (i.e. you go through the front door and turn left or right in front of a massive central chimney stack), and a hipped red-tile roof which could happily be Kent, or Essex. Probably 18th-century, although the gothicky windows would be later.
We are grateful to Paul Stamper for assistance
