Welsh Journals

seven oil paintings, seven watercolours and six etchings he made for his book, Six Views in South Wales, JR Smith's mezzotint of The Bard, Woollett's etchings of Dido and Aeneas and the Happy Villagers and five pictures seen in James Baker's book.7 He knew a much larger body of work existed, recording that sixty-seven paintings by Jones had been shown at the Society of Artist and the Royal Academy exhibitions between 1765 and 1798. Although the 2003 exhibi- tion included 155 works by Jones, many of the larger exhibited paintings still remain to be re-discovered and one at least has appeared since the show opened.8 Although Payne recognised that there was still much research needed on Jones, his article marked the beginning of the re-discovery of this Welsh artist in the twentieth century, particularly since it alerted Ralph Edwards to this body of work and he in turn published an interesting ar- ticle in Country Life in 1945.9 Edwards was a Keeper at the Victoria and Albert Museum in London, a member of the National Museum's Council and a patriotic Welshman, who went on to assist the Museum in acquiring oil sketches by Jones and to curate the first ever exhibition devoted to Jones in London at Marble Hill, transferring to Cardiff in 1971. The emergence on to the art market of Jones's art, particularly his oil sketches, in the mid-twentieth century, and who exactly came to appreciate them and recognise their importance, formed the topic of my paper at the international Conference held at the National Museum & Gallery, Cardiff on 13 and 14 June 2003. The keynote address was given by Philip Conis- bee of the National Gallery of Art, Washington, a long time admirer of Jones's Italian oil sketches, which he placed in the wider context of Euro- pean painting in Rome at the end of the eighteenth century. Other speakers included Professor Anna Ottani Cavina from the University of Bologna, Paul Joyner of the National Library, Aberystwyth and Dr Martin Postle of Tate Britain. The event was chaired by Professor Brian Allen, Director of the Paul Mellon Centre for British Art and Robin Simon, Editor of the British Art Journal. Over 100 delegates attended and after the delivery of the papers there was much lively debate. My paper was entitled 'Who really discovered Thomas Jones?' I was able to highlight the pioneering work of Ffransis Payne and to look in some detail, at the sale of Jones's work at Christie's, London on 2 July 1954 and particularly the enthusiastic response of Welsh curators. The publishing of Jones's Memoirs in the Walpole Society in 1951, edited by Paul Oppe, had continued to fuel interest in Jones. Oppe, a great collector of British watercolours was at that time a member of the Board of Education and went on to become Deputy Director of the V & A. His Introduction reveals