A Road in a Gorge near Naples
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.
Artwork Details
- Title: A Road in a Gorge near Naples
- Artist: Thomas Jones (British, Trevonen, Wales 1742–1803 Pencerrig, Wales)
- Date: 1782
- Medium: Watercolor, gum arabic glazes, over graphite
- Dimensions: Sheet: 14 3/4 × 19 1/8 in. (37.5 × 48.5 cm)
- Classification: Drawings
- Credit Line: Purchase, Mary Trumbull Adams Fund, Brooke Russell Astor Bequest, and 2009 and 2005 Benefit Funds, 2013
- Object Number: 2013.451
- Curatorial Department: Drawings and Prints
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May 10, 1781
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