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Object No. 4 is a permitted copy of ‘The Bard’ by Thomas Jones, Pencerrig. It was purchased in 2003 by the Old Breconian Association.
Hanging above the door into the Sixth Form Hub on the ground floor of Big School, the sombre grandeur of Jones' mythological landscape arouses curiosity in all who notice it. Its connection with an era of the school’s history deserves explanation.
Images: By permission of Amgueddfa Cymru — Museum Wales.
The oil on canvas was painted by a former pupil of Christ College, Thomas Jones. The original is held by Amgueddfa Cymru – Museum Wales. Described by MW as “one of Jones' early paintings in the grand manner, where the landscape is used as a background setting for a scene from history, literature or mythology”, the painting is based on Gray's legendary tale of Edward I's massacre of the Welsh bards. In Jones’ composition, the last surviving bard is cursing the English invaders before hurling himself to his death.
Thomas Jones (1742-1803) came from a landowning family in Radnorshire, Wales. Like many of his peers, he was sent to Christ College with the expectation that he would go into the church.
With his brother John, he joined the school in 1753. During that period of the school's history, boys were taught by one Master who was entirely responsible for teaching and discipline. Thomas Jones describes his experience under Revd Rice Powell (Master 1751-58) with little fondness, recalling him as "a tyrannical Pedagogue”.
But it was while at Christ College that Jones joined forces with a friend who sparked his interest in drawing. Recognising his son’s talent, Jones’s father supported their interest and encouraged them by supplying “money to buy prints, drawing-utensils, and what colours an Apothecary's Shop could afford.”
Thomas Jones matriculated as a commoner in Jesus College, Oxford in 1759. He left Oxford without completing his degree to pursue an artistic career. By 1761 he had enrolled in a drawing school and was later apprenticed to Welsh artist Richard Wilson (1714-1782). Establishing himself as a landscape artist in the style of his master, he was elected a Fellow of the Society of Artists in 1772. He painted ‘The Bard’ a year later.
In 1776 he left for Italy where he painted the series of strikingly modern paintings that included ‘Buildings in Naples’ (1782). A permitted copy of this small oil on paper painting hangs in the Clive Richards Room, together with copies of portraits of Thomas Jones and John Jones by Giuseppe Marchi - all purchased for display by the Old Breconian Association.
Thomas Jones is best known today for his oil sketches of Italy and Wales, but he judged ‘The Bard’ to be “one of the best I ever painted”.
