The Muses were a favourite theme of the artist’s.  First used at Morley College, Mahoney appears to have returned to a similar theme in the late 1950s when he was asked to submit, once again, designs for Morley College which was rebuilt after its destruction in the Second World War.  They represented the spiritual and creative values that the artist strove to express both in his life and work.

By the time Mahoney embarked on this last large scale work he must have known that, with his physical health failing, he was unlikely to complete it. The studies however bear testament to the remarkable clarity of vision which never surrendered to physical decline.  His drawings, especially for the right hand side, are amongst the most perfect expressions of the artist working in harmony with nature.  A youthful artist works undisturbed in a Garden of Eden, tended by Muses.