Thomas Jones travelled to Italy in November 1776, arriving first in Rome, where he gained the patronage of connoisseurs, including Frederick Augustus Hervey, 4th Earl of Bristol and Bishop of Derry (1730-1803). He visited Naples and its environs in September 1778, and returned in the spring of 1780, remaining there until his return to England in August 1783. This landscape is likely to have been painted shortly after Jones' return to England, from pencil sketches executed during his trip that are now lost.