Jonathan Myles-Lea was an English painter of country houses, historic buildings, and landscapes, typically taking the form of aerial views.
20 Facts About Jonathan Myles-Lea
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Jonathan Myles-Lea was introduced to the series of walking guides written and illustrated by Alfred Wainwright.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea was educated first at Hutton Grammar School and won an arts scholarship to attend Malvern College in Worcestershire from the ages of 15 until 18; he won the painting prizes in 1985 and his senior year, 1986.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea held positions as a press and PR officer for arts and entertainment programmes, and a continuity announcer at Channel 4 TV.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea produced and directed an adaptation of Brian Friel's play The Faith Healer.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea became a member of The Colony Room, where he was introduced to the renowned Anglo-Irish painter Francis Bacon, who encouraged him to undertake a professional career in painting.
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In 1992, Jonathan Myles-Lea left Channel 4 and went to assist a friend for a year in the restoration of two historic buildings in the British countryside.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea made his first landscape painting, Plas Teg, Clwyd.
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In 1995, Jonathan Myles-Lea was commissioned to paint an image of The Laskett, a large formal garden created by Sir Roy Strong and Julia Trevelyan Oman.
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Shortly afterwards Jonathan Myles-Lea was commissioned by Gervase Jackson-Stops OBE, a senior advisor to The National Trust to produce a plan of Stowe Landscape Gardens.
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In 1997 Jonathan Myles-Lea was included in the feature, "Living National Treasures" by Country Life magazine.
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In 2009, Jonathan Myles-Lea was commissioned to create an oil painting for the cover of Country Life magazine, Dream Acres was the first commissioned painting ever to be featured on the cover of Country Life for the opening issue of their 12-week Dream Acres gardening feature.
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In July 2009, author and journalist Jonathan Self described Myles-Lea as 'The successor to Stubbs and Constable.
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In September 2009, Grosvenor Estates asked Jonathan Myles-Lea to provide artworks in collaboration with Linley to furnish a recently renovated townhouse in Lower Belgrave Street.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea's work has been exhibited at Sotheby's and The British Library in London.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea's pictures have been featured in The Artist and the Country House by John Harris, The Artist and the Garden by Sir Roy Strong and The Story of Gardening by Penelope Hobhouse.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea appeared as a guest of the broadcaster Trevor Barnes in his BBC World Service radio programme about the spiritual significance of garden design A Place in Paradise: Spiritual Gardens.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea occupied a studio in Belsize Park, Hampstead from 2004 to 2006.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea moved to Royal Crescent, Bath in 2020, where he continued to work despite a terminal cancer diagnosis.
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Jonathan Myles-Lea spent some time at Dorothy House hospice before returning to his home in Bath where he died on 25 August 2021.