Spaniels retrieving a Woodcock
William Jones was a sporting artist who worked during the early to the middle 17th century. Whilst little is known about his life, he was one of a few artists to produce shooting and angling scenes during the first half of the 19th century.
It was unlikely that he exhibited in London but he would have found a ready market amongst landowners and wealthy patrons who enjoyed sporting pursuits. Some of his shooting and angling subjects were reproduced as engravings. His scenes appear similar to that of Samuel John Egbert Jones (1797-1861) and it is widely believed they were related.
Whilst he did not exhibit during his lifetime, his paintings have gained in popularity during the 20th century. A number of his angling paintings were in the Arthur N. Gilbey Collection sold by Christie's in 1940. His works are also described and illustrated in Angling in British Art by Walter Shaw Sparrow. Some of his works were found in the Paul Mellon Collection and were also sold by Frost and Reed during the late 1960s.
His works are represented in the Witt Library and the Yale Centre for British Art