separating mahony and mahoney

Irish Arts Review

Separating Mahony and MahoneyAuthor(s): Julian CampbellSource: Irish Arts Review (2002-), Vol. 28, No. 2 (SUMMER (JUNE - AUGUST 2011)), pp. 98-101Published by: Irish Arts ReviewStable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/41202727 .

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Separating Mahony and

Mahoney Julian Campbell marshals the evidence for the

existence of two artists called Mahony, both of

whom won the admiration of van Gogh

are certain artists whose work has had great impact in their lifetimes, yet whose names and lives remain little-known. One such is James Mahony from Cork, known for his illustrations of

the Great Famine in Ireland. Although they may lack the originality of some of the graphic works by socially engaged 1 9th-century masters such as Goya,1 Daumier and Käthe Kollwitz, Mahony 's illustrations for the Illustrated London News (ILN)had huge impact during his day, helping to alert the attention of the English-speaking world to the severity of the famine. These were later admired by the young van Gogh. To an extent,

Mahony s illustrations have become emblematical and are frequently reproduced in history books and articles. People may refer to

' Mahony 's

illustrations of the famine', but know little about the life of the artist, or indeed about the variety of his work.

Mahony led a busy and varied career, painting a large number of watercolours of genre scenes, literary subjects, coastal scenes and inte- riors of continental cathedrals. He travelled extensively in France, Italy and Spain. Within a couple of years of his famine illustrations, he made

98 ^ • A íť 4: V E W SUMMER 2011



1 JAMES MAHONY (1810-59) THE OLD STONE BRIDGE watercolour on paper 20.6x34.4cm Crawford Art Gallery, Cork

2 JAMES MAHONY (1810-59) QUEEN VICTORIA AND PRINCE ALBERT ATTENDING THE 1853 IRISH INDUSTRIAL EXHIBITION 1853. DUBLIN watercolour on paper 60.1x73.3cm Photo ©National Gallery of Ireland

large watercolours which recorded the visit of Queen Victoria to Dublin.

Mahony exhibited at the Cork Art Union, of which he was a co-founder, and at the Royal Hibernian Academy. A large collection of his watercolours was bequeathed to the National Gallery of Ireland. He is said to have moved suddenly to London, working as an illustrator for magazines, and boob by Dickens, and to have exhibited watercolours there; but to have led a troubled life, and to have died in London in 1879.

The sheer range and variety of works by one artist are impressive, yet also puzzling. How could one person have created so many illustrations, watercolours and oils, often in different styles, or led such a restless and

strange Ufe? Questions have also been asked about the dates of Mahony 's birth and death, and the spelling of his name. For some years sugges- tions have been made that there were two artists of similar names, perhaps father and son. Yet works by the two artists continue to be confused, and their names misspelled. It is the intention of this article to discuss the mystery of James Mahony and James Mahoney. James Mahony was born in Cork in с 1810, 2 son of a carpenter. His brother

ARTISTS SEPARATING MAHONY AND MAHONEY

Patrick later became an architect. Mahony began to exhibit at the Cork

Society for promoting the Fine Arts in 1833. He spent some years on the Continent: studying in Rennes, visiting Rouen, Milan, Florence and Venice, and also studying in Rome. He became skilled as a watercolour

painter, many of his pictures being designated as 'a sketch from nature taken on the spot/3. He also painted a large oil featuring a bishop bless-

ing Italian peasants and fishermen. After returning home Mahony and fellow artist Samuel Skulen established the Cork Art Union in 184 1.4

Mahony exhibited literary subjects and Italian scenes here and at the RHAinthe 1840s.

From 1846-52 he was employed as an artist and writer for the ILN, making drawings relating to the famine, and its aftermath. s He made illustrations of the sale of Indian corn, and food riots in Youghal and

Dungarvan (Fig 3). Mahony wrote seven articles on the 'Condition of Ireland' for the ILN, 1849-50. bus most striking illustrations are his

spare, yet harrowing drawings of starving people in Clonakilty (Feb. 1847) and Co Clare (Fig Dec. 1849). In the early 1850s Mahony illustrated scenes of emigration in Cork.

At the same time he was also making watercolours of genre scenes, for example the delightful Stone Bridge at Blarney of 1850 (Fig 1), The Wren Bush and A Country Dance (NGI). The occasion of the Great Exhibition in Dublin in 1853 provided the artist the opportunity of painting several

large watercolours of the visit of Queen Victoria and Prince Albert to Dublin, with crowds of people in the Great Hall (Fig 2). The exhibition

helped promote an optimistic picture of Ireland in the years following the famine.6 Mahony also painted a detailed panoramic view of Dublin from the spire of St Georges, Hardwick Place, 1854 (NGI), one of his most remarkable watercolours. An admirer of his work was Captain G A

Taylor, who acquired many of his watercolours. On Taylor s death these were bequeathed to the National Gallery of Ireland. (Taylor's bequest to the RDS, from which the Taylor Art Scholarship was developed, is discussed by Patrick J Murphy in the Irish -Arts Review Spring 2011, p82).

Mahony visited Spain, painting watercolours in Cadiz, Cordoba and Granada. He resumed exhibiting at the RHA in 1856, showing Irish, Italian and Spanish subjects. He was elected an Associate in 1856, but

9?



ARTISTS SEPARATING MAHONY AND MAHONEY

resigned suddenly in 1859. According to Strickland, Mahony departed for London, and pursued a career as an illustrator and watercolourist there, dying in 1879. However, it now seems that Mahony left Dublin for Cork. He painted some watercolours of the harbour there. But, suf-

fering from a serious illness, he died in his home city in 1859. In the

early 1880s, the young Vincent van Gogh, an admirer of British and Irish illustrations, bought a set of Mahony s ILN illustrations from a

Jewish bookseller in The Hague.7 In 1 9 1 3 the National Gallery of Ireland loaned two of Mahony 's watercolours to the Exhibition of Irish Art at the Whitechapel Gallery, London. The following year Campbell Dodgson, Keeper of Prints at the British Museum, wrote to Strickland

(who was Registrar of the National Gallery of Ireland) :

'May I venture to point out what seems to be an error in your valu- able Dictionary of Irish Artists?' (published in 1913). Dodgson 's investiga- tions: 'arouse a suspicion that in your article the artist of this name

(Mahony) you have thrown two people, possibly father and son, into one, and that the Mahoney born in 1810, of whom you describe a long

career in Ireland, is a different person from that illustrator who was a friend and a... younger contemporary of Frederick Walker'.8

Dodgson stated that the younger artist who worked as an illustrator in London was aged thirty (sic) when he died in 1 879. This would pre- clude him from being the Mahony who commenced working for the ILN in 1846. Strickland made annotated corrections in his own copy of the Dictionary (NLI). In recent years, other art historians have also distin-

guished between the two artists.9 Nevertheless confusion still remains over the identity of Mahony and Mahoney, works by one often being attributed to the other. At this juncture it is important to look more

closely at the younger artist. James Mahoney was born in 1 847. He was probably of an Irish fam-

ily, but his short troubled life was spent in London. He was little edu- cated and untrained when he started working as an errand boy with

lithographic printers Vincent. He was noticed by illustrator Edward

Whymper, and was trained as a draughtsman. He received commissions to illustrate popular magazines such as Sunday at Home, Argosy and Cassell's

Magazine, and also books such as Scrambles in the Alps by Whymper, 1870, Frozen Deep by Wilkie Collins and the Fables of La Fontaine of 1870 (Fig 4).

Employed by the Dalziel Brothers, Mahoney became one of the lead- •

ing illustrators of the 1860s. Many of his illustrations are conventional, but some display a Social Realism, depicting the lives of poor people. His work was admired by Whymper, the Dalziels, successful painter Frederick Walker and later by van Gogh, who wrote that an 'excellent

draughtsman is J Mahoney, who illustrated the Household edition of Dickens'.10 Van Gogh described the drawings as 'very beautiful'11 and recommended Mahoney 's illustrations for Oliver Twist, from Routledges'

THE POSSIBILITY REMAINS THAT THERE WAS ONLY ONE ARTIST WHO SOMETIMES SPELT HIS NAME 'MAHONY' AND ON OTHER OCCASIONS 'MAHONEY'

100

Sixpenny Series. But the Dalziels found Mahoney difficult as an

employee, with his argumentative nature and tendency to drink. On one occasion a visitor to the Dalziels' office addressed the artist as

'MaHOney'; the latter flew into frenzied rage and assaulted the man. n

Mahoney was also a skilled painter. He exhibited watercolours at the

Royal Academy and the New Watercolour Society in the 1860s and 1 870s, becoming an Associate of the latter. Some of his watercolours, for example of flower girls, or boys and men, are sentimental, while others have a humorous quality, conveying a sense of identification with

poor people. Fetching the Water 13 is a gentle study of a girl at a spring, while his paintings Preparing for the Pot l4 and A Smoke on the S'y*s display a

striking Realism, showing Mahoney 's eye for genre details, and his skill in the watercolour medium (Fig 5).

Mahoney 's restless nature is suggested by the fact that he changed lodgings in London every year or two. In 1874 he married Charlotte Maria Baker,16 but, after an argument with another man in a public lavatory, he died of apoplexy at 26 Charles Street on 2 May 1879, his wife present at his death. He was aged thirty-two. The executor of his will was a Mr S BWinall of 473 Fulham Palace Road. Mahoney 's niece was to become a Music Hall singer known as 'Bessie Bellewson'.



5JAMESMAH0NEY (1847-79) A SMOKE ON THE SLY gouache on card 12.5xU.8cm Courtesy Adams

3 JAMES MAHONY (1810-59) OLD CHAPEL ROAD, DUNGARVAN. SCENE OF FOOD RIOTS, ILN 1846 Crawford Art Gallery, Cork

AJAMES MAHONEY (1847-79) AN ILLUSTRATION FOR THE FABLES OF LA FONTAINE 1870 watercolour on paper 11. 5x1 0cm Crawford Art Gallery, Cork

The possibility remains that there was only one artist who sometimes

spelt his name 'Mahony' and on other occasions 'Mahoney'. This is not the first time that confusion has arisen over the name or identity of a

19th-century Irish artist. Yet, while in this case there does not seem to be any sense of subterfuge, the prolific nature of the work, the range of

subjects embraced, and the difference in signatures, suggests the existence of two artists.

The older artist signed larger or more finished watercolours in capitals as 'J.MAHONY' or 'JAMES MAHONY', the letters leaning backwards; or in more elaborate, looped form in which the 'J' is incorporated into the 'M'. The younger artist sometimes signed his name 'J.MAHONEY', on occasion

incorporating the initial 'J' into the 'M' or condensing this into a mono-

gram: 'JM', as van Gogh noted. In some cases this resembles the crown-like

monogram used by John Everett Millais and other Pre-Raphaelites. Further research needs to be done on the lives and works of Mahony

and Mahoney But from the evidence discussed here it appears that there were two artists with a similar name, but with no connection with one another, and not father and son: the older artist James Mahony from Cork who worked for the ILN and made illustrations relating to the famine, and perhaps the younger artist, James Mahoney in London, who illustrated Dickens. Confusingly perhaps, both artists painted coastal scenes, and both used oil in certain paintings. ■ Acknowledgements: Anne Hodge, Niamh MacNally, National Gallery of Ireland; Peter Murray, Crawford Art Gallery, Cork, Darà McGrath, Nicola Figgis, Mary O'Riordan, Adele Hughes, William J Smyth, Stuart Cole and Morgan O'Driscoll. Julian Campbell is a contributor to the catalogue Irische Materie 1870-1930, Dachau, (2010).

1 It is worth noting that Goya's masterly series of etch- ings Disasters of War were not published during his lifetime.

2 W b Strickland s Dictionary of Irish Artists, Shannon, Ireland 1913 gives the date of Mahony's birth as с 1810; Rodney Enghen, in Dictionary of Victorian Wood Engravers, 1985. p. 173 gives 1816.

3 Ann M Stewart, RHA, Index of Exhibitions, 1985, Vol.2 p. 252-53

4 Peter Murray Illustrated Summary Catalogue, Crawford Municipal Art Gallery, Cork 1992, p. 211

5 See Margaret Crawford, The Great Irish Famine, 1845-49', in Ireland: Art into History, ed. В Р Kennedy

& R Gillespie, Dublin 1994; Margarita Cappock, The Depiction of Ireland in The Illustrated London News, 1842-1900'. Ph.D. NCAD 1998; and Peter Murray, ed.. Whipping the Herring, Survival and Celebration in Nineteenth Century Irish Art, Crawford Gallery. Cork, date

6 Nancy Netzer, 'Picturing an Exhibition: James Mahony's watercolours of the Irish Industrial Exhibition of 1853', in Visualizing Ireland. National Identity and the Pictional Tradition, ed. Adele Dalsimer, Boston and London 1993, p. 88-89.

7 Vincent van Gogh, The Letters, Complete Illustrated and Annotated Edition, ed. L. Jansen, H.Luiten and

N.Bakker, London and Amsterdam 2009, vol.2 p173. 8 Letter from Campbell Dodgson (1867-1948). BM, to

Strickland. 21 Nov. 1914, NLI Ms.Notes 19.685 (A), file no.21 (3).

9 e.g. R. Enghen. op.cit. and Crookshank and Glin. The Watercolours of Ireland, London 1994. p. 186-88. 307

10 Vincent van Gogh, op.cit. p. 147 11 Ibid p.173 12 Dalziel Brothers. Record, cited by Enghen, op cit. p173. 13 de Veres. Dublin, 23 Nov. 2004. lot 176 14 Drums, Malahide. 28 Nov. 2004, lot 69 15 Adam's. Dublin. 28 May 2008. lot 129 16 NLI Ms. 19. 68b IA| file no. 21 131

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