Dictionary of National Biography, 1885-1900/Jones, John (1745?-1797)
JONES, JOHN (1745?–1797), engraver, born about 1745, practised both in mezzotinto and stipple, and produced a large number of plates, chiefly from portraits by Reynolds, Romney, and other contemporary painters; these, with few exceptions, he published himself in Great Portland Street, where he resided from 1783 until his death. He exhibited with the Incorporated Society of Artists from 1775 to 1791. In 1790 he was appointed engraver extraordinary to the Prince of Wales, and he was also principal engraver to the Duke of York. Jones's mezzotints, though somewhat black, are powerful and artistic in treatment; they include portraits of Signora Baccelli and Richard Warren, M.D., after Gainsborough; James Balfour and Fraser Tytler, after Raeburn; John Barker, J. Boswell, G. J. Cholmondeley, C. J. Fox, Lord Hood, Fanny Kemble, William Pitt, and the Hon. Mrs. Tollemache, after Reynolds; Ynyr Burges, Edmund Burke, and the Duke and Duchess of Marlborough, after Romney; and W. T. Lewis as the Marquis in the ‘Midnight Hour,’ after Shee; also the Blenheim Theatricals, after J. Roberts, and some fine figure-subjects after G. Carter, W. R. Bigg, Fuseli, and others. Among his stipple plates are Miss Farren and Mr. King as Sir Peter and Lady Teazle, after Downman; Serena, after Romney; Robinetta, Muscipula, the Fortune Teller, and portrait of the Duke of York, after Reynolds. The print of Reynolds's ‘View from Richmond Hill,’ the proofs of which are dated 1796, was published by Jones's widow in 1800. He died in 1797. George Jones, R.A. [q. v.], was his only son.
[Redgrave's Dict. of Artists; J. Chaloner Smith's British Mezzotinto Portraits; Graves's Dict. of Artists, 1760–1880.]