A Road in a Gorge near Naples

Jones belonged to an innovative coterie of British artists working in Rome and Naples in the late eighteenth century, 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, 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 golden light of afternoon, with the rays bathing a woman at prayer, a strolling workman, and a grazing donkey. This sheet is the first finished watercolor by this important artist to enter the Museum's collection.