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Creator:
Thomas Jones, 1742–1803
Title:

Lake Albano [1985, Cormack, YCBA Concise Catalogue]

Former Title(s):

Lake Albano, Italy

Date:
1777
Medium:
Oil on canvas
Dimensions:
47 1/8 x 65 1/4 inches (119.7 x 165.7 cm)
Inscription(s)/Marks/Lettering:

Signed and dated, lower right: "Tho Jones. | MDCCLXVII | Roma" [1777]

Credit Line:
Yale Center for British Art, Paul Mellon Collection
Copyright Status:
Public Domain
Accession Number:
B1973.1.30
Classification:
Paintings
Collection:
Paintings and Sculpture
Link to Frame:
B1973.1.30FR
Subject Terms:
Grand Tour | horses (animals) | Italian | lake | landscape | people | sky | sunset
Associated Places:
Albano, Lago | Castel Gandolfo | Italy | Lazio | Rome | Saint Peter's Basilica
Access:
Not on view
Note: To make an appointment to see this work, please contact the Paintings and Sculpture department at ycba.paintings@yale.edu. Please visit the Paintings and Sculpture collections page on our website for more details.
Link:
https://collections.britishart.yale.edu/catalog/tms:130
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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.

Gallery label for installation of ycba collection, 2016


The Welshman Thomas Jones first encountered the Lake of Albano near Rome in December 1776. He thought it "the most pleasing [prospect] in the world." This was the first easel painting Jones completed after his arrival in Italy, and the first he sold-to the influential patron of art the Right Reverend and Hon. Frederick Augustus Hervey (1730-1803), Bishop of Derry, the future 4th Earl of Bristol. The picture took Jones forty-one days of work, during which time he "painted the sky and distance a second time," using "half an ounce of ultramarine in the Middle Distance." Freely acknowledging the influence of his teacher before leaving England, Jones recalled copying so many landscape studies by Richard Wilson "that I insensibly became familiarized with Italian scenes, and enamoured of Italian forms."

Gallery label for installation of YCBA collection, 2005

Thomas Jones (1742-1803) (The National Gallery, London, 2003-11-12 - 2004-01-15) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Thomas Jones (1742-1803) (Whitworth Art Gallery, 2003-08-22 - 2003-10-26) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Thomas Jones (1742-1803) (National Museum Wales, 2003-05-21 - 2003-08-10) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Classic Ground - British Artists and the Landscape of Italy, 1740-1830 (Yale Center for British Art, 1981-07-29 - 1981-09-20) [YCBA Objects in the Exhibition]

Duncan Bull, Classic ground : British artists and the landscape of Italy, 1740-1830, , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, 1981, pp. 4, 11, 28-30, no. 14, pl. I, ND1354.4 B85 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Malcolm Cormack, Concise Catalogue of Paintings in the Yale Center for British Art, Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 1985, pp. 130, 131, N590.2 A83 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Luke Herrmann, [ Exhibition Reviews ] Richard Wilson and the Transformation of European Landscape Painting, YCBA, New Haven, 6 March - 1 June National Museum Wales / Amueddfa Cymru, Cardiff 5 July - 26 October , British Art Journal, Vol. 15, Autumn 2014, p. 121, N6761 B74 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Memoirs of Thomas Jones, Volume of the Walpole Society, Vol. XXXII, 1946-1948, pp. 62-63, 83.., N12 W35 A1 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

The National Gallery, London, The British school, National Gallery Publications, London, 1998, pp. 192-3, ND461 L62 1998 (YCBA) [YCBA]

Paul Mellon's Legacy : a passion for British art [large print labels], , Yale Center for British Art, New Haven, CT, 2007, v. 3, N5220 M552 P381 2007 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Martin Postle, Richard Wilson and the transformation of European landscape painting, Yale University Press, New Haven, 2014, pp.84, 85, 308-09, Cat. No. 132, fig. 74, NJ18.W72 R53 2014 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Greg Smith, Thomas Jones (1742-1803) : an artist rediscovered, , Yale University Press, New Haven, CT, 2003, pp. 15, 55, 65,166-67, 168, 182, 184, no. 56, pl. no. 56, NJ18 J714 T56 2003 OVERSIZE (YCBA) [YCBA]

Thos. Agnew and Sons Ltd., English life and landscape, an exhibition of English pictures, 1730-1870, 8th March-8th April 1971. , [London, 1971, no. 40, ND1314.4 A35 + (YCBA) [YCBA]

Richard Veasey, Thomas Jones Pencerrig : Artist - Traveller - Country Squire, Talybont, Ceredigion, 2017, NJ18 J714 V43 2017 (YCBA) [YCBA]


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