The biography of Welsh eighteenth-century landscape painter Thomas Jones (1742–1803). Following in the footsteps of his master Richard Wilson, he travelled to Italy in 1776 and spent six-and-a-half years there; first in Rome among English artists; then in Naples where he was welcomed into the local artistic milieu. The book traces the development of his career from boyhood until his return to England in 1783. It then considers in detail his life and work as a gentleman farmer from 1787, when he inherited the family estate in Radnorshire, until his death in 1803. As he was the first British artist to write his memoirs, the penultimate chapter is devoted to what he achieved as a writer.