Philippe Robert-Jones

Baron Philippe Roberts-Jones (8 November 1924 – 9 August 2016) was a Belgian art historian who was the head of conservation of the Royal Museums of Fine Arts of Belgium. A member of the Royal Academy of Science, Letters and Fine Arts of Belgium, of which he was president in 1980, he was also a member of the Free Academy of Belgium and a professor at the Université libre de Bruxelles. He was also a published poet.

Biography Born in Ixelles, Belgium, on 8 November 1924, Philippe Roberts-Jones belonged to a family of three generations of lawyers, descending from a British family established in Brussels at the beginning of the 19th century and that had been active in the coachwork industry.

His father Robert Roberts-Jones (1893–1943), a lawyer, was a member of the Belgian Resistance and was executed by the Germans at the Tir national on 20 October 1943.

Philippe Roberts-Jones died on 9 August 2016 at the age of 91.

Prizes Prix Émile Polak from the Belgian Royal Academy of French Language and Literature, 1957, for Amour et autres visages Prix Malherbe of the Province of Brabant, 1976, for L'Art Majeur Prix du rayonnement de la langue française, from the Académie française, 1980, for his collected output Grand prix de poésie de l'Académie française, 1985 Prix Louis-Guillaume for prose poetry, 2002, for Domaines en cours Grand prix international Lucian Blaga, 2006

Distinctions Robert-Jones was made a Baron by King Baudouin in 1988.

Belgium Grand Cross of the Order of the Crown Grand Officer of the Order of Leopold Volunteers' Medal for War Commemorative Medal of the 1940–1945 War, with sabres Civic Medal, first class

France Commandeur of the Légion d'honneur Commandeur of the ordre des Arts et des Lettres

Spain Commander of the Order of Isabella the Catholic

Italy Commander of the Order of Merit of the Republic of Italy

Finland Grand Officer of the Order of the Lion of Finland

Work As a poet he publishes under the name Philippe Jones. Among his published works are: Le Voyageur de la nuit Amours et autres visages Être selon Racine ouverte Un espace renoué

As an art historian, he was interested in the work of Honoré Daumier and in contemporary engraving; another field of interest of his was the work of Belgian painter Lismonde.