Thomas Jones, 1742–1803, British, active in Italy (1776–83)
Title:
Lake Albano
Date:
1777
Materials & Techniques:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
47 1/8 x 65 1/4 inches (119.7 x 165.7 cm)
Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1973.1.30
Gallery Label:
Following in the footsteps of his teacher Richard Wilson, Thomas Jones traveled to Italy in 1776, remaining there until 1783. Jones first visited Lake Albano in December 1776, finding the region “without doubt the most pleasing in the whole world.” Albano is a volcanic lake that sits below Castel Gandolfo, once believed to be the birthplace of Romulus and Remus, founders of Rome. Eighteenth-century popes used the hilltop palace there, which Jones shows overlooking the lake, as an occasional retreat from Rome itself, which is just visible in the distance and dominated by the distinctive dome of St. Peter’s Basilica. This painting, the first Jones completed after his arrival in Italy, was sold to the influential art patron Frederick Augustus Hervey, Lord Bishop of Derry, who would die in Albano in 1803.\n\n Gallery label for installation of ycba collection, 2016
