Naples: Buildings on a Cliff Top
- Artist: Thomas Jones
- Date: 1782
- Medium: Oil paint on paper
- Dimensions: support: 287 x 387 mm
- Museum: Tate Britain
- Collection record: Tate Britain website
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About this artwork
This is the “Naples: Buildings on a Cliff Top” by Thomas Jones, created in 1782. Jones, who trained under Richard Wilson, spent seven years in Italy from 1776 to 1783, the last three of which were in Naples. Here he sets the scene from the flat roof of his lodgings—what the locals called a lastricia—giving him a sweeping view over the city, the bay, the Sorrento mountains, and the distant island of Capri on one side, while the rocky cliffs, buildings, and vineyards of Capo di Monte fill the other.
It’s an oil sketch on hand‑made paper, a medium Jones used increasingly while he painted from nature. These works were uncommon at the time, yet they display his classical training: a careful balance of light and structure, a harmony that turns a rugged landscape into an orderly composition.
The painting shows the interplay of architecture and nature, the dramatic cliff setting, and the subtle shift between urban and rural. It’s a snapshot of a moment when Jones, perched above Naples, captured both the grandeur of the city and the sublime quiet of the surrounding hills.
See it in person
Naples: Buildings on a Cliff Top is in the collection of Tate Britain on Millbank, London — free to enter. Point your phone at any artwork there and audioguide.london plays a free audio guide in six languages — no app download needed.
