Portrait of the Revd Hugh Jones

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Portrait of the Revd Hugh Jones
Portrait of the Revd Hugh Jones
Portrait of the Revd Hugh Jones
Miles Wynn Cato
title=Credit line
Artist
Richard Wilson (1713/14-1782)
Title
Portrait of the Revd Hugh Jones
Date
1734
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
Metric: 74 x 60 cm
Imperial: 29 1/8 x 23 9/16 in.
Collection
With Miles Wynn Cato May 2023
Wilson Online Reference
P2
Description
The Revd Hugh Jones (1696-1764) of Pentre Mawr, Abergele is shown head and shoulders against a dark background in an oval fictive frame, wearing a black jacket, white collar tabs and powdered wig.
Provenance
Probably by descent in the Jones family at Abergele until c.1920; by descent to Reginald Jones-Bateman (d.1965), Ting Tong, Budleigh Salterton, Devon; private collection Devon; sold Phillips, Exeter, 16 December 1997 (892); Phillips, Exeter, 31 March 1998 (906); location unknown; with Miles Wynn Cato May 2023.
Labels
A gilded tablet inscribed WILSON. 1734. is with the picture. The date has been altered to read 1754, which is clearly incorrect as Wilson was in Italy that year and his style by then was infinitely more accomplished than in this painting.
Subject
The sitter was Rector of Llanferres and later Vicar of Gresford. He was the elder brother of John Jones of Pentre Mawr, whose portrait was painted by Wilson in 1738 (P4).
Related Paintings
P4 Portrait of John Jones of Pentre Mawr, Abergele, Private Collection, Wales
Critical commentary
According to an old gilded tablet from the nineteenth-century frame, now no longer with it, the portrait was painted in 1734. If the attribution and date are correct, which in view of the provenance there seems no reason to doubt, this makes the picture the first dated work by the artist. Comparison of the portraits of the two brothers P2 and P4, separated by four years, also reveals the immature nature of Wilson's work at this stage. Nevertheless, the painting, first noticed by Miles Wynn Cato and communicated to the compiler by Peter Lord, is an important discovery in historical terms. It reappeared on the art market in April 2023.
Condition/Conservation
Relined since 1997. Surface cleaned and revarnished 2023.
Updated by Compiler
2023-05-17 00:00:00