Details of Sculptor

Surname

Jones

Alternative Surname

First Name

John Edward

Initial of Surname

J

Year of Birth/Baptism

1806

Flourished

Year of Death

1862

Biographical Details

Jones was born in Dublin on 2 May, 1806, the son of Edward Jones, a miniature-painter. He trained as a civil engineer under Alexander Nimmo and was employed with him on various important works in Ireland, including the building of Waterford Bridge, 1829-32. He later went to London to work as an engineer, a profession he abandoned for sculpture in 1840, making ‘within a marvellously short space of time wonderful progress in that art’ (Lit Gaz, 16 Nov 1844, 738).
Jones exhibited at the Royal Hibernian Academy between 1847 and 1854 and at the Royal Academy in London, 1842-62, showing more than 100 works, most of them portrait busts. Several of these received favourable reviews. When he showed a bust of Sir Henry Pottinger (31) in 1846, the Art Union critic wrote: ‘The features bear a very marked resemblance to the life; they are endowed with an energy and firmness of purpose which sort most perfectly with the known character of Sir Henry Pottinger. There are few works of this kind which, in severe eloquence, are at all compatible with this bust’ (AU, 1846, 189). Jones sent The favourite, a seated statue of a girl with a dog, to the Great Exhibition in 1851 (2). It was praised in the Art Journal Catalogue, which noted ‘a natural simplicity about the figure that renders it extremely pleasing … the drapery is tastefully disposed, and the entire composition is altogether graceful and attractive’ (AJ Cat 1851, 279). The sculptor also sent works to the Dublin Exhibition of 1853 and the International Exhibition held in London in 1862. His only recorded public statue is a figure of Sir Robert Ferguson erected in Londonderry in 1862 (8).
He died whilst on a visit to Finglas, near Dublin, on 25 July 1862. He was described as possessing ‘a kind, courteous and generous disposition’, while ‘in wit, humour and vivacity he was a thorough Irishman’ (AJ, 1862, 207).
Literary References: Strickland 1, 1913, 557-60; Gunnis 1968, 220-1