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JONES, OWEN". 



JONES, OWEN". Mr. Owen Jones was born 

 in 1809, in Thames Street, London. His father, 

 Owen Jones, born at Llanvihangel Glyn y 

 My vyr, in Denbighshire, was distinguished as a 

 Welsh antiquary. Making money as a furrier 

 in Thames Street, he devoted a considerable 

 amount of it to the collection of the remains 

 of the literature of Wales, published as " The 

 Myvyrian Archaiology of Wales." He also 

 procured transcripts of Welsh poetry, extend- 

 ing to fifty quarto volumes, now deposited in 

 the British Museum. When spoken of as a 

 bard, he is called in Welsh records Owen 

 My vyr, from the place of his birth. Owen, 

 the eminent son, early lost his father, and at 

 sixteen he became the pupil of the late Mr. 

 Lewis Vulliamy, the architect, and served with 

 him a term of six years. In 1831 he started 

 upon his great tour. In Greece he met Jules 

 Goury, a French architect, and student like 

 himself. They never afterward separated till 

 the death of Goury. They went to Turkey, 

 and then to Egypt. At Thebes the two archi- 

 tects set to work with an extraordinary enthu- 

 siasm and cleared out one of those crude brick 

 arches which surround the Memnonium, and 

 converted it into a comfortable residence, em- 

 ploying the fellaheen, and some of their boats 

 even, to build a wall across the arch separating 

 the kitchen from the studio, which was lighted 

 by a large hole in the roof. From this impro- 

 vised abode the two architects used to sally 

 forth, with their Arabs carrying their ladders, 

 boards, and implements for measuring, and re- 

 turn in the evening with a store of architectu- 

 ral knowledge derived from the surrounding 

 remains that was quite astounding for accura- 

 cy and detail, with sometimes not a few pict- 

 uresque sketches in water-color of the ruins 

 and their present occupants. Never, seem- 

 ingly, did two men work together in better 

 harmony and success. At this time, the poems 

 of Victor Hugo firing his imagination, he, 

 with his friend Jules Goury, determined to 

 go to Granada ; and on arriviag at the Al- 

 hambra they determined to make its beauties 

 known to the world. The ultimate result is 

 the "Plans, Elevations, Sections, and Details 

 of the Alhambra." M. Goury died of cholera. 

 Owen Jones then visited his friend's family in 

 France, in fulfillment of a promise he had made 

 to him, and came to England, where he com- 

 menced the reproduction of his drawings in 

 colors and gold for publication. This was in 

 1836. In the following year he again visited 

 Granada for twelve months, and then returned 

 to London and finished the publication of the 

 work. This was done under great difficulties. 

 When he first came from Spain the art of 

 printing in colors by means of stones was in 

 its infancy. He seized, the idea, obtained a 

 press, and in an attic at his chambers in the 

 Adelph; set to work to produce that book 

 which, as a monument of printing alone, has 

 never been surpassed. On its publication he 

 spent his patrimony. On. the completion of 



the "Alhambra" he commenced his profes-' 

 sional life. To keep together the few assist- 

 ants he had trained to chromo-lithography he 

 published a few works, which proved losses. 

 About this time he married Miss Wild, herself 

 one of a family of accomplished artists, and 

 who survives him. He then became connected 

 with Messrs. Longman & Co., and with Messrs. 

 De la Eue, and made for them numbers of de- 

 signs. With the latter firm, especially, he was 

 long and largely connected. He may be said 

 to have metamorphosed every thing in their es- 

 tablishment, and helped largely to give it the 

 renown it has ever retained. He designed 

 their playing-cards, their stamps in fact, all 

 that they produced. He also made designs for 

 the great carpet-manufacturers of Glasgow. 

 His ornamentation has generally a character 

 similar to that of what may be called the 

 Moorish styles, namely, the avoidance of imi- 

 tation of relief. In 1842 he published "De- 

 signs for Mosaic and Tesselated Pavements." 

 Mr. Jones was also engaged in the architectural 

 design and superintendence of some houses. 

 But in general architectural design, and even 

 with the ornaments of Moorish character which 

 he introduced, he did not at that time succeed 

 as well as in interior decorations. 



On the formation of the staff of officers for 

 the Exhibition of 1851, Mr. Jones was named 

 one of the " superintendents of the works ; " 

 and, when the question of design was set at rest 

 by Paxton's blotting-paper sketch, he still re- 

 tained his post, and aided in giving architectu- 

 ral character to the structure. As the work 

 progressed, the problem of its decoration, a 

 novel one, was more and more discussed, and 

 Mr. Jones's original proposals, which he stoutly 

 supported by theory, were very freely can- 

 vassed, and became somewhat modified in the 

 application. He, however, always maintained 

 the propriety of adhering to the primary col- 

 ors, and of using them in certain proportionate 

 quantities in which the reflected rays are held 

 to constitute white light, and also of using 

 them on particular surfaces supposed to be 

 adapted to the force of each color. There was 

 much conflict of ideas and difficulty, but his 

 intense desire not to lose the opportunity 

 to impress upon the world the effect of color 

 led him to persevere. All who saw the build- 

 ing will remember tne harmonious whole pro- 

 duced. In the year 1852 one of the lectures 

 at the Society of Arts, relative to the Exhibi- 

 tion, was given by Mr. Jones, and afterward 

 published, under the title "An Attempt to 

 define the Principles which should regulate the 

 Employment of Color in the Decorative Arts, 

 with a Few Words on the Necessity for an Ar- 

 chitectural Education on the Part of the Public." 

 Shortly afterward the Crystal Palace Company 

 erected their building at Sydenham, and Mr. 

 Jones was appointed " director of decorations." 

 When the building was ready, the courts of ar- 

 chitecture and sculpture were commenced ; and 

 the Egyptian, Greek, Eoman, and Alhambra 



