A Road in a Gorge near Naples

Thomas Jones

1782 · Watercolor, gum arabic glazes, over graphite · Drawings and Prints

Jones belonged to a coterie of British artists who worked in Rome and Naples in the 1780s, developing innovative approaches to landscape. Watercolor’s subtle expressive potential allowed the creation of this exquisite light-filled image that the artist took back with him to London in 1783. Attracted to picturesque locations, he found a narrow cliff-lined road behind the Hospital of San Gennaro in Naples, described in his Memoirs as flanked with "Masses of Tuffa [volcanic rock], finely fringed with Shrubs of various hues and shades, and interspersed with grottoes or caverns, from whence stones for . . . building were excavated." Jones layered watercolor and gum to evoke the low golden light of a late afternoon, with the rays bathing a woman at prayer, a strolling workman, and a grazing donkey.

Artist

Thomas Jones

Date

1782

Medium

Watercolor, gum arabic glazes, over graphite

Department

Drawings and Prints

Credit line

Purchase, Mary Trumbull Adams Fund, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, and 2009 and 2005 Benefit Funds, 2013