| 1833 |
Born at 11-12 Bennett’s Hill, Birmingham, son of Edward Richard Jones, framer and gilder, and Elizabeth Coley, who dies six days after his birth. |
| 1844 |
Attends King Edward VI Grammar School, New Street, Birmingham. |
| 1852 |
Attends Exeter College, Oxford, as a divinity student. Meets William Morris. |
| 1855 |
Receives first artistic commission, while still an undergraduate, for Archibald MacLaren's The Fairy Family of Europe. Although untrained as an artist, takes inspiration from the art of the Pre-Raphaelite Brotherhood, particularly Dante Gabriel Rossetti. |
| 1857 |
Quits Oxford and commenced professional art career under the tutelage of Rossetti. Receives first commission to design stained glass, for James Powell & Sons, of The Good Shepherd. Creates many pen and ink designs, imitative of Rossetti. Begins first works in paint, particularly the mural of Nimuë Luring Merlin, on the bays of the Old Debating Chamber in the Oxford Union Society. Also creates first work in oil, The Blessed Damozel, based on Rossetti's eponymous poem. |
| 1859 |
First visit to Italy from September to October; makes several copies of Old Masters, particularly Vittore Carpaccio. Begins to infuse his interpretation of Rossettian medievalism with early Italian sources. |
| 1860 |
Marries Georgiana Macdonald on 9 June in Manchester. Primarily utilises her facial features as model for his female subjects for the next several years. |
| 1861 |
Founding partner of Morris, Marshall, Faulkner & Co. In addition to stained glass cartoons, begins designs for other textiles, including embroidery and ceramic tile. |
| 1862 |
Second visit to Italy, exploring the North with John Ruskin and Georgiana, from May to July. Makes copies of Venetian Masters for Ruskin. |
| 1866 |
Medievalist tendencies replaced by a Venetian sensibility in his painting, such as in Le Chant d'Amour. Strongly influenced by Simeon Solomon and Algernon Charles Swinburne; begins to explore classical sculpture, which is further enhanced by his introduction to the Anglo-Greek community in Kensington, particularly the Ionides family. Receives first commission from Euphrosyne Ionides Cassavetti, uses her daughter, Maria Zambaco, as a model. |
| 1868 |
Strongly influenced by Greco-Roman sculpture, particularly the Elgin Marbles in the British Museum. Begins an affair in the summer with his primary muse and model, Zambaco, now a burgeoning artist with a keen interest in sculpture. |
| 1870 |
Resigns from the Old Water Colour Society in August due to furore regarding Phyllis and Demophoön. His work takes on a more Aesthetic sensibility. |
| 1871 |
Third visit to Italy in September. Becomes interested in Sandro Botticelli and Michelangelo. |
| 1873 |
Final visit to Italy in Spring, visiting Florence and Siena. |
| 1875 |
Becomes sole designer of stained glass for Morris & Co. |
| 1878 |
Considerable impact upon the Symbolist painters when his The Beguiling of Merlin is exhibited at the Exposition Universelle in Paris. His interpretation of the femme fatale is heavily employed by this group of artists, emerging in the 20th century as a stereotype. |
| 1885 |
Elected Associate of the Royal Academy, as well as Honorary President of the Royal Birmingham Society of Artists, visiting Birmingham in the autumn to accept. Style evolves into Symbolism, but one with an homage to Pre-Raphaelitism. |
| 1889 |
Continues to enjoy popular success in France as the quintessential Symbolist artist, with award of the prestigious Légion d'honneur. Begins to work on the largest watercolour of the 19th century, The Star of Bethlehem, completed in 1891. |
| 1898 |
Dies on 16 June at his home, The Grange, in London. Shortly before his death, finally completes an unfinished painting begun in 1865, The Prioress' Tale, which exemplifies a fusion of the various styles worked on throughout his forty-two year career. |