Charles Mahoney:
Ambleside, View from the Library Roof, circa 1942
Framed (ref: 452)
Oil on canvas

Tags: Charles Mahoney oil architecture Metropolitan war 1.PORTRAIT OF AN ARTIST ALUMNI THE GOLDEN GENERATION World War II Paintings by British Artists

Provenance: The Artist's Daughter; The Fine Art Society; Private collection

Exhibited: The Artist as Evacuee, The Royal College of Art in the Lake District, 1940-45, Dove Cottage and the Wordsworth Museum, Grasmere 1987, (29);

WW2 - War Pictures by British Artists, Morley College London, 28 October -23 November 2016, cat 144. 

Literature: WW2 - War Pictures by British Artists, Edited by Sacha Llewellyn & Paul Liss, July 2016, cat 144, page 185.

Llewellyn, Sacha, and Paul Liss. Portrait of an Artist. Liss Llewellyn, 2021, p.73.

Late in the 1940's  the Royal College of Art was evacuated to Ambleside in the Lake District.  Mahoney and Percy Horton were amongst the male staff.  The students were housed in two hotels,men at the Queens and women at The Salutation.  Mahoney was resident master in charge atthe men's hostel.  Whilst at Ambleside , Mahoney became engaged to Dorothy Bishop, a calligraphy tutor from the Design School of the RCA. They were married in September 1941.

This composition demonstrates Mahoney's fondness for Victorian Gothic buildings, a taste which, like much that appealed to his eye, was unfashionable at the time.