Life:
The tone of JW's one surviving letter to Owen is so friendly as to suggest a real friendship and mutual respect (#04361). This makes it all the more surprising that no other trace of Owen has been found in the letters.
This one letter implies that Owen had some connection with the Royal Society of British Artists during JW's Presidency. There are a nuber of artists named Owen but none seems to fit the bill (e.g. George O. Owen (fl. 1884-1926), H. Smythe Owen (fl. 19th century) and the architect William Owen (1852-1909).