Rooftops, Naples 1782

Thomas Jones made “Rooftops, Naples” with oil on paper, a portable medium perfect for capturing fleeting impressions. The painting’s power lies in its apparent simplicity, and its evocation of place through the close observation of buildings. Look closely, and you see that these are vernacular structures, seemingly made from readily available materials. The rough plasterwork, weathered by time, speaks to the slow accumulation of labor. These are the buildings that define so many urban landscapes, built by ordinary tradespeople, not architects. In Jones’s time, "picturesque" views of Italy were extremely popular, but this isn’t the kind of subject that many artists would have chosen to paint. Yet, in its own way, it’s as revealing of its time and place as any grand vista. By focusing on the texture of the built environment, Jones invites us to see the beauty in the everyday, and to consider the social history embedded in the materials around us.