Welsh Journals

have carried out pioneering research, upon which we were able to build our project. My opening essay in the catalogue considered in detail the Jones litera- ture and particularly emphasised the importance of the Welsh enthusiasts, especially the social historian Ffransis Payne (Fig. 2), in championing the art of Thomas Jones in the mid-twentieth century. It came as some sur- prise to me at least, to learn that Payne transferred from the Department of Folk Culture to the Art Department, during the Second World War. By May 1940 the running of museum departments was becoming difficult, fol- lowing the calling up of all 18-25 year olds and the desire of some curators to volunteer. Certain departments such as Archaeology found themselves without either a Keeper or an Assistant Keeper and Payne, who was by now 40 years old was initially transferred to Archaeology which he ran al- most single-handedly until March 1942. He was then seconded to the Art Department. Payne had a great interest in Radnorshire, later publishing in Welsh a two-volume guide to the county.4 He was alerted to the existence of Thomas Jones the artist, by the Stedman Davies articles in the Transac- tions of the Radnorshire Society in 1942. Payne visited Pencerrig during the War years and was impressed by Jones's paintings which he viewed there. He borrowed a typewritten copy of Jones's Memoirs from the owner of the house at the time, Commander Llewelyn Evan-Thomas. Eventually he published his research in Welsh in Y Lienor, 1944-45. Payne opened his article with these words: Thomas Jones is a forgotten artist. His fellow Welshmen cannot be blamed for that as very few of them had ever heard of him. In his own time only a few rich and cultured people were interested in painting, and in his own country they could be counted on the fingers of one hand.5 Payne wanted to resurrect Jones's career because 'Welsh artists are so scarce in each age that we should not ignore them'.6 His account of Jones covers the entire career and draws heavily upon the Memoirs. His article also re- flects the troubled times in which he himself was writing, commenting upon the whereabouts of the Dido and Aeneas, 'today with the city destroyed by war, it is futile to hope it is still in existence'. A later footnote revealed however that he had read in the Museums Journal of the survival of the painting. Payne's view of Jones was however, by his own admission lim- ited. He admits that: Apart from a photograph or two, I myself have not seen more than