Jones, OWEN

Jones, OWEN, Welsh antiquary, was born in Denbighshire in 1741, and died in London, 26th September 1814. He was all his life a furrier, but had early developed a taste for Welsh poetry. In 1801-7 he published at his own cost the Myvyrian Archaeology of Wales, a collection of poetic pieces dating from the 6th down to the 14th century (new ed. Denbigh, 1870). The MSS. from which he made his selection, running to one hundred volumes, are deposited in the British Museum.—His son, OWEN JONES, born in 1809, made himself a name as an art-decorator. He laid the foundations of his knowledge in an architect's office in London, travelled for four years in southern Europe, and published Designs for Mosaic and Tesselated Pavements (1842), Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Details of the Alhambra (1845), and Polychromatic Ornament of Italy (1845). He was made superintendent of works for the London Exhibition of 1851, and afterwards director of decorations for the Crystal Palace, where he designed the decorations of the Alhambra, Egyptian, Greek, and Roman courts, and wrote guide-books to the first two. In 1853 he published Principles regulating the Employment of Colour; in 1856 the Grammar of Ornament, still a valuable text-book; in 1864, One Thousand and One Initial Letters; and in 1867, Examples of Chinese Ornament. He also illustrated several books. He died in London, 19th April 1874.