Charles Pears
Fire Over London
Oil on paper laid on board, signed 'Chas Pears' lower left
Image size: 24 3/4 x 15 1/4 inches (63 x 39 cm)
Framed
Provenance:
The Navy League, February 1941.
Bonhams London: The Marine Sale, 14 September 2004, lot 94.
A similar but larger version of this picture is held in the collection of the Guildhall Art Gallery, City of London (ID; 1563).
Pear's evocative work depicts the large air raid that took place on the 29th December 1940 against London by German bombers which resulted in the a firestorm so large it became known as the Second Great Fire of London. The scene shows the Pool of London with Tower Bridge and Tower of London in background all ominously silhouetted against a bright orange sky. Beams from searchlights stretch up from the ground vividly evoking the noise from air raid sirens and the chaos as London burned through the night.
On the night of 29th December 1940 approximately 100,000 incendiary bombs, dispatched by 136 German bombers, fell on the city. The fires started by the raid included an incendiary bomb which broke through the dome of St Paul's Cathedral which was being guarded by a fire watch team at Prime Minister Winston Churchill's request. As the raid focused on the part of the non-residential part of the city many of the churches, offices and warehouses that were bombed were not covered by the Fire Watchers Order, contributing to the large scale of the fires.
160 people were killed in the raid, with an additional 250 injured.
Charles Pear
Charles Pear was born in 1873 in Pontefract, Yorkshire. He studied at Eat Hardwick and Pomfret College where he gained a life-long appreciation for Canaletto.
He was artistically active from 1890, working as an illustrator throughout his career, including works in The Yellow Book and Punch. However, Pears was best known as a marine painter and often signed his works 'Chas Pears'. He was the first elected President of the Royal Society of Marine Artists and also wrote a number of books on small boat cruising.
He was a commissioned officer in the Royal Marines during the First World War, working as an official war artist during both the First and Second World Wars.
From 1913 to 1936 Peats worked as a poster artist, working for the the likes of London Underground, Great Western Railway and British Airways.
Pears passed away in Truro in 1958 and today his works are held in the collections of the London Transport Museum, National Martine Museum, National Railway Museum and Imperial War Museum. He is commemorated in a prize at the Royal Society of Marine Artists, the Charles Pears Memorial Award.
