THE life of an aspiring war artist who died while attempting to play his part in the First World War is being celebrated in an exhibition.

Tom and Rosamund Jordan, who have specialised in works by Northern Impressionist artists for more than 40 years, said the display of works by the Staithes Group at the Pannett Gallery, in Whitby, would mark the centenary of the death of one the artist’s colony’s leading figures, William Frederick Mayor.

Mr Mayor, who was born in Winksley, near Ripon, where his father was vicar, lived in the artist’s colony in Hinderwell-cum-Roxby on the North Yorkshire coast in the late 1890s, having trained at the Acade?mie Julian in Paris.

While living with fishermen and their families he was elected a founder member of the Staithes Art Club in 1901 and is credited with helping to bring the aims and techniques of the Impressionist movement to Staithes.

Mr Mayor exhibited at numerous leading galleries, including the Royal Academy, the Royal Society of British Artists and the Royal Scottish Academy and has works in public collections in Tate Britain and the Victoria and Albert Museum.

Mrs Jordan said research had revealed despite being married, aged 50 and having two children in 1916, the artist had wanted to serve as a war artist and had a simple asthma-related operation to make hit fit for the front.

She said as the London hospital was overflowing with casualties from the war, Mr Mayor did not receive the attention he need and died from blood loss.

Mrs Jordan said a collection of 43 works by Mr Mayor and his wife, Hannah, some of which have never been seen in public before, would be showcased alongside the only comprehensive exhibition of Staithes Group and Staithes Art Club pictures.

She said: “The exhibition will give art lovers and collectors an unprecedented opportunity to compare and select work by the Mayors before buying.

“Work by Hannah appears so rarely on the market that for most collectors wanting to complete a Staithes Group collection it provides the first opportunity to be able to choose from a good selection of pictures by her.”

For details, visit tbrj.co.uk