On the Road from Albano to Rome 

Thomas Jones painted this landscape on the road from Albano to Rome using oils, at an unknown date. The gentle slopes and classical ruins Jones depicts represent the cultural landscape idealized by elite British travelers during the Grand Tour. We can imagine wealthy tourists making their way to Rome on this very road, seeking aesthetic and intellectual improvement through exposure to Roman antiquity. The shepherd and his flock, dwarfed by the landscape, offer a romantic vision of rural life. But look closer and we see the painting also subtly acknowledges the economic realities of the time. A key resource for understanding this painting might be travelers' accounts. How did they actually experience the journey to Rome? To what extent did their experience involve encounters with rural workers and what was the nature of those encounters? This work encourages us to reflect on how our understanding of art is always shaped by the social context in which it was produced and consumed.