The View from the Coast Jacques Beys focused his attention on the shifting light and the heavy presence of the landscape. His work often centers on the relationship between the sea and the land, capturing the way the atmosphere settles over a coastline. In his 1784 work, View of the Gulf of Naples with Mount Vesuvius, there is a quiet observation of the scale of the world. He did not seek to dramatize the volcano, but rather to place it within the context of the surrounding water and sky. The brushwork suggests a steady hand accustomed to the specificities of light. He looked at the way the s…