JONES, 0\\i:.\ 



433 



s and the decorative painting of the gen- 

 em! fabric, wore t IK-II completed under his dir.-c- 

 With reference to th>- -> -t m of decora- 

 tion adopted by him, lie was led topublinh " An 



Apology for the Coloring of the Greek Court.'' 



St. .lanieVs Hall, deigned and erected by him 



^>ly for musical purposes, is universally 



,i/ed among musicians as one of the most 

 ictory music-halls in Europe. He IH-IV 



tirst introduced a system of distributed lights 



l.y moans of small, star-shaped burners, which 



linoe been very widely used. The main ob- 



: tin- system is the avoidance of shadows. 

 In 1857 Mr. Jones, who had joined the Insti- 

 tute of British Architects in 1843, was awarded 

 the royal gold medal, the gift of her Majesty 



:"eeii to architecture. He received sev- 

 eral other medals and recognitions from abroad, 

 notably the diploma of honor for decorative 

 designs at the Vienna Exhibition of 1873. The 

 " Grammar of Ornament," his most important 

 published work, was completed in 1856, and is 

 recognized as a text-book throughout Europe. 

 The facts that he has endeavored to establish 

 in that volume are these: 1. That, whenever 

 any stylo of ornament commands universal ad- 

 miration, it will always be found to be in ac- 

 cordance with the laws which regulate the 

 distribution of form in Nature. 2. That, how- 

 ever varied the manifestations in accordance 

 with these laws, the leading ideas on which 

 they are based are very few. 3. That the 

 modifications and developments which have 

 taken place from one style to another have 

 been caused by a sudden throwing off of some 

 trammel, which set thought free for a 

 time, till the new idea, like the old, became 

 again fixed, to give birth in its turn to fresh 

 inventions. 4. He endeavored to show, in the 

 twentieth chapter, that the future progress of 

 ornamental art may be best secured by en- 

 trrafting on the experience of the past the 

 knowledge we may obtain by a return to Na- 

 ture for fresh inspiration. 



" To attempt to build up theories of art, or 

 to form a style, independently of the past," he 

 says, " would be an act of supreme folly. It 

 would be at once to reject the experiences and 

 accumulated knowledge of thousands of years. 

 On the contrary, we should regard as our in- 

 heritance all the successful labors of the past, 

 not blindly follow them, but employing them 

 simply as guides to find the true path." 



The principles advocated in this work are : 



As architecture, so all works of the decorative arts 

 should possess fitness, proportion, harmony the re- 

 sult of all which is repose. 



True beauty results from that repose which the 

 mind feels when the eye, the intellect, and the af- 

 fections, are satisfied from the absence of any want. 



Construction should be decorated. Decoration 

 should never be purposely constructed. (Thut which 

 is beautiful is true ; that which is true must be beau- 

 tiful.) 



Beauty of form is produced by lines growing out 

 one from another in gradual undulations. There are 

 no excrescences. Nothing could be removed, and 

 leave the design equally good or better. 

 VOL. xiv. 28 A 



The general forms being first cared for, thee should 

 be subdivided and ornamented by general line*; the 

 intersection* may then be filled in with ornament, 

 which may again be subdivided and enriched for 

 closer inspection. 



In his introduction to the series of Moresque 

 ornaments, Mr. Jones testifies strongly to his 

 admiration of that style. In a succeeding vol- 

 ume, published some years later, he showed 

 the beauties that could be culled from Chinese 

 decoration ; and we ought not to omit to men- 

 tion, as among the earlier works of illumina- 

 tion, his " One Thousand and One Initial Let- 

 ters," and " The Song of Songs." In the year 

 1806 ho designed a kiosk for India, and super- 

 intended its execution in iron. 



In the latter part of Owen Jones's life he 

 was mainly occupied in the decoration of pri- 

 vate houses, and this chiefly in connection 

 with Messrs. Jackson & Graham. The fir.-t 

 work of great importance was a complete 

 series of designs for the carpets, and wall and 

 ceiling decorations, for all the great rooms 

 (fifteen in number) in the palace of the Vice- 

 roy of Egypt at Gesch. It was necessary that 

 every thing should be prepared and completed 

 in London, ready to apply on the spot, and 

 herein his complete mastery of the principles 

 and knowledge of the details of Arabic art 

 shone most conspicuously in the production of 

 fifteen series of designs, applicable as dadoes, 

 dado-mouldings, walls, friezes, frieze-mould- 

 ings, the different sections of cornice-mould- 

 ings, and ceilings, in a style as perfect and ex- 

 act as is exemplified in the tombs of the Caliphs 

 in Old Cairo. An independent multiple, de- 

 termined by the proportions of each separate 

 saloon, was adopted throughout for all the de- 

 signs for the carpets, mural and ceiling decora- 

 tions. Mr. Jones regarded this, both physically 

 and mentally, as the greatest triumph of his 

 life. For three months, day by day, he worked 

 not less than eighteen hours upon it. But, by 

 far the most important and complete work in 

 which he was associated with Messrs. Jackson 

 & Graham is, the decoration and furniture of 

 the London house of Mr. Alfred Morrisson, in 

 Carlton-House Terrace. Here the woodwork 

 of the paneling, dado, doors, architraves, and 

 window-shutters, in the outer and inner hall, 

 staircase, and all the rooms on the ground and 

 first floors, is inlaid from designs by Mr. Jones, 

 with various woods of different kinds, the col- 

 ors of which were carefully selected by him 

 with a view to perfect harmony of coloring. 

 The walls are hung with the richest Lyons 

 silks, all specially designed by him, and colored 

 to harmonize with the ceilings, which may be 

 described as perfect in the proportions of their 

 geometrical divisions and the designs and color- 

 ing of their decorations. The chimney-pieces, 

 too, grates, and fenders, the carpets, and the 

 furniture, which is all marquetrie, were de- 

 signed by Mr. Jones, and are in perfect keep- 

 ing with each other. . Unfettered by any limit 

 with regard to cost, and working with the full 

 confidence of Mr. Morrisson in his artistic 



