Description
JONES, George. 18212 Autograph Letter Signed, claiming back one of his drawings which had “by some accident” been included in the effects of the late Sir Thomas Lawrence, soon to be sold at auction. 2 pp. 7 x 4 inches, in good condition. 23 March 1836. “The subject is the ‘Last Man’ from Campbell’s poem.” In 1823, the poet Thomas Campbell wrote a short poem called ‘The Last Man’ in which a single survivor figure watches the death of the world. George Jones (1786-1869), painter, and Keeper of the Royal Academy, most famous for his paintings of military subjects. His obituary states that he volunteered for active service in Spain, but he was certainly was part of the army of occupation in Paris after the Battle of Waterloo.Waterloo was particularly attractive to the artist and he exhibited no less than five paintings of the battle at the Royal Academy and six at the British Institution, earning the nickname ‘Waterloo’ Jones. He made numerous sketches of the battlefield and surroundings; some of these were used in a book entitled The Battle of Waterloo…By a Near Observer published in 1817. A steel engraving of The Last Man is in the Royal Academy Collection.