Landscape Painting

History of Landscape Painting

Pompeii and Herculaneum have 1st century remains of beautiful frescos of Roman landscapes

However,Landscape Painting came into being in the 15 th Century in Europe. It was established as as a setting for human activity, often a religious subject, such as the themes of the Rest on the Flight into Egypt, the Journey of the Magi, or Saint Jerome in the Desert.

J.M.W. Turner was one of the greatest European painters of landscapes. His oils are somber in color but reveal his preoccupation with contrasted effects of light and atmospheric effects such as storms and rainbows.

The 19 th century saw another great painter of landscapes, John Constable . He is today valued as one of the most important English Painters. His oil paintings, with their free and vigorous brushwork were revolutionary at the time and they continue to interest artists, scholars and the general public.

In the 1820s American Landscape Paintings began to dominate the Art Scene. Artists began to equate the Nations unexploited wilderness with it's potential for growth. Hudson River school, a loosely knit group of American artists who actively painted landscapes between 1825 and 1875, was established during this period.

Hudson River School

The three main themes of the Hudson River school paintings were: discovery, exploration, and settlement. The paintings very deftly depicted the American landscape as a pastoral setting. Human beings and nature coexisted peacefully in these idyllic settings. The Paintings of the Hudson River School are characterized an inherent albeit idealistic understanding of nature. Hudson River school artists idealised nature as an ineffable manifestation of God, though the artists varied in the depth of their religious conviction. European masters such as Claude Lorrain and John Constable inspired them.