From Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia
Landscape painting, also known as landscape art, is the depiction
in art of landscapes natural scenery such as mountains,
valleys, trees, rivers, and forests, especially where the main
subject is a wide view with its elements arranged into
a coherent composition. In other works, landscape backgrounds
for figures can still form an important part of the work. Sky
is almost always included in the view, and weather is often an
element of the composition. Detailed landscapes as a distinct
subject are not found in all artistic traditions, and develop
when there is already a sophisticated tradition of representing
other subjects. The two main traditions spring from Western painting
and Chinese art, going back well over a thousand years in both
cases. The recognition of a spiritual element in landscape art
is present from its beginnings in East Asian art, drawing on Daoism
and other philosophical traditions, but in the West only becomes
explicit with Romanticism.
The word "landscape" entered the modern
English language as landskip (variously spelt), an anglicization
of the Dutch landschap, around the start of the 17th century,
purely as a term for works of art, with its first use as a word
for a painting in 1598. Within a few decades it was used to describe
vistas in poetry, and eventually as a term for real views. However
the cognate term landscaef or landskipe for a cleared patch of
land had existed in Old English, though it is not recorded from
Middle English Landscape views in art may be entirely imaginary,
or copied from reality with varying degrees of accuracy. If the
primary purpose of a picture is to depict an actual, specific
place, especially including buildings prominently, it is called
a topographical view.Such views, extremely common as prints in
the West, are often seen as inferior to fine art landscapes, although
the distinction is not always meaningful; similar prejudices existed
in Chinese art, where literati painting usually depicted imaginary
views, while professional court artists painted real views, often
including palaces and cities.
|