Cecil Rochfort D’Oyly-John (1906-1993) was born in South Africa, later settling in London, Brighton and Rottingdean on the south coast of England. He travelled extensively on the Continent and became well known for his Mediterranean landscapes, which were popularised through prints.

A hallmark of D’Oyly- John’s technique is his thick application of oil paint with a palette knife. During his heyday in the late 1940s, 1950s and 1960s he tapped into the market for cheerful representations of what were then becoming increasingly accessible holiday destinations.

The artist himself was a colourful character, who mixed with the rich and famous including, amongst others, the actor Jon Pertwee, the playwright Terence Rattigan, the society osteopath (of Profumo Affair infamy) Stephen Ward, and the socialite Lady Docker.

This richly illustrated monograph is the first on D’Oyly-John and demonstrates the continuing appeal of his paintings which capture the brilliance of the Mediterranean sunlight.

Philip Kelleway was born in Kenya and studied at the universities of London (Goldsmiths’ College), Marburg, and Reading, before gaining his doctorate from the University of East Anglia. As a scholar of eighteenth-century ceramics, Kelleway has contributed to specialist publications. Kelleway also writes on twentieth-century painting and is the author of Highly Desirable: The Zinkeisen Sisters and Their Legacy. Kelleway furthers his interest in landscape painting with this study on the hitherto critically neglected work of D’Oyly-John.

Paul Mayhew was born in Henley-on- Thames, Oxfordshire and was educated on The Wirral, Cheshire and then at Bangor University in Wales. He now lives in Bloomsbury, London and is an art dealer who exhibits regularly at the major art fairs in London. His interest in the paintings of D’Oyly-John began twenty years ago when he saw one which brought back memories of his holidays in Provence and the Côte d’Azur of south-east France.

Imprint: Halstar. ISBN 978 1 906690 40 3, hardback, 238x258mm, 144 pages. Published October 2012.