Following a nervous breakdown in 1947, Jones went to live as a lodger with his doctor in Harrow. There, he made a series of watercolour drawings which feature a glass goblet of flowers on a table surrounded by a variety of domestic objects. This delicate and lively composition is centred around an eighteenth-century German glass chalice. The distinctive curved metal arms of the casement windows of the artist?s small bedroom can also be seen in the painting. Critics have commented on the chalice as representing a sacrificial cup, which reflects the artist?s strong Catholic faith.
David Jones (English, 1895 - 1974)
David Jones was born in Kent to Welsh parents. He studied at Camberwell School of Art in London before carrying out military service on the Western Front during the First World War. On his return he studied at the Westminster School of Art and lived with the sculptor Eric Gill and his family at Ditchling in Sussex. Like Paul Nash and John Piper, Jones? art has a strong connection with ancient history and the land. He was influenced by Welsh folklore and literature as well as his own Catholic faith. Jones produced distinctive, delicate pen and pencil drawings with transparent washes. His paintings also combine words and images in the tradition of William Blake and the medieval illuminators of illustrated manuscripts.