JOHN PAUL JONES

JOHN PAUL JONES

Bill Osmundsen works on a clay head of Jones after Houdon's Bust

How do we know what John Paul Jones

looked like? ….
Sculpture is the answer. Houdon the great

French Portrait Sculptor created a Bust of

Jones by introduction of Benjamin Franklin

who along with Thomas Jefferson and George

Washington were subjects of Jean d’Antonine

Houdon.
Houdon an eminent portraitist was so exact in

his rendition of his subjects that measurement were taken from the bust and compared to the 100 year old pickled corpse of John Paul.
Sculptor Bill Osmundsen found a copy of the

Houdon Bust in the Portsmouth, NH ‘John Paul

Jones House’ and was allowed to copy it at that location before beginning his Bronze.

"John Paul Jones Raises the First American Flag" Bronze (c) WBO

"John Paul Jones flies the first American Flag at Sea" is designed for a Monument at a Seacoast Center. Do you have a location? Jones was important to the East Coast and the success of the Revolutionary War.

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See our John Paul Jones gift items at AtelierOsmundsen

The John Paul Jones story is too fantastic to be fiction.

Born to a Scottish gardener, John Paul killed a man, as he sailed around the world. Adding the surname Jones, John Paul sought anonymity.

He was a dandy and somewhat of a Revolutionary War ‘Rock Star’.
A self taught War Ship designer he went to sea onboard the Ranger with one of the very first versions of what was to become the American Flag and single handedly attacked the English coast. A protégée of Benjamin Franklin he was given the Bonhomme Richard, named for ’Poor Richard’s (Almanac) ’, to captain. He engaged the Serapis in one of the fieriest sea battles ever fought.
Jones is considered an American Nelson but had to leave the colonies to become an Admiral in the Russian Navy.
He died in 1792 in a French apartment, just 12 days before official papers from Secretary of State Thomas Jefferson would put him to work as an maritime emissary to the US; supporting Jones’ original desire for a standing Navy.

The Navy had been disband, on George Washington’s recommendation after the Revolutionary War.

Buried in a lead-lined vat of Rum, President Teddy Roosevelt found Jones in an unmarked grave in Paris, France 100 years after burial and had Jones interred in Annapolis, MD where, at last, John Paul Jones officially became the father of the US Navy.

Why is Jones depicted with 'the flag'?...it's only speculation that Jones first flew the 'Stars and Stripes' leaving Portsmouth New Hampshire onboard the 'Ranger', but it is arrived at based on our best reseach possibilities. We know, for instance, that shortly before the voyage, the 'Stars and Stripes' was approved by the Continental Congress and the level of 'Post' communication rivaled, if not surpassed, our US Mail and communication was frequent. Add that to JPJ being something of a 'Revolutionary War Rock Star' (he had many female admirers) and we are quite sure they wouldn't let Jones leave without a properly sewn flag. No doubt a product of their petticoats.

"John Paul jones Raises the First American Flag"

The Flag and Jones a fierce patriot John Paul first flew the ‘Don’t Tread on Me’ rattlesnake colonial flag as a young lieutenant and second in command aboard the Alfred.
Later early versions of what we think of as the Betsy Ross Flag were officially sanctioned by the Continental Congress and a version of this flag left with Jones onboard the Ranger for his foray against the English coast.
Still another version with red and blue strips were hosted aboard the Bonhomme Richard during the battle with the Serapis.
After the battle little was left of either ship which had been lashed together by Jones, early on, in the battle and no Colonial Flag was present; so the English proceeded to hunt Jones as a Pirate. The French on the other hand had a painting commissioned (this is where we find the evidence of the flag) and King Louis of France awarded John Paul his sword for the heroic battle.

good read:-

by Samuel Eliot Morison

John Paul Johns: A Sailor's Biography

Boston: Little, Brown 1959

Naval Institute Press

Wikipedia on John Paul Jones

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