LANDSCAPE, in painting: a picture pre senting a view of natural scenery as it appears' within the range of vision from a single point of observation, with or without figures of men , or animals. The landscape is essentially modern in its evolution, the Greeks ignoring it in their absorption with the human figure; the Roman and Pompeian wall-paintings are the nearest approach to landscape painting afforded by classic art. The Odyssey landscapes, now in , the Vatican Library, and the pictures of a , garden painted upon the walls of an apart ment in the villa of Livia at Prima Porto near Rome, are the best of the remaining examples of the art as practised by the Romans.
In Christian art the landscape makes a • late appearance, but Giotto (1267-1337) under the influence of Saint Francis of Assisi makes use of natural scenic effects as backgrounds. It was not until the beginning of the 15th cen tury, however, that the modern landscape made , its appearance in the Flemish and Italian schools of art, and even then the landscape was subordinate to the figure interest. Fra Angelico makes use of actual copying from nature, preceding efforts being • largely com prised in certain typical objects such as rocks, clouds, trees or buildings. Leonardo makes use of landscape backgrounds and Raphael is amazing in the diversity and harmony of his adaptations of 'natural scenery in his back-. grounds. Michelangelo, on the other hand, ignored the landscape in art and held •it and its admirers in contempt. Andrea Mantegua fol lows Raphael but his work is far from possess ing the grace which characterizes that of his Correggio. In the Venetian school the beauties of nature received more enthusias-.• tic representation, and the Bellini, Giorgione and Titian, particularly the latter, are con sidered the founders of the modern 'landscape. i The pupils and followers of Titian accorded the landscape ample consideration in their . compositions, among them being Tintoretto and Veronese. Canal and Guardi follow and are considered the last of the Venetian schools. In the• southern Alps, Salvator Rosa showed considerable power in- reproducing the wilder aspects of nature and had a considerable in fluence in the development of the art In the northern countries of Europe, as in. Italy, painting was a later development of
art, following sculpture and architecture. The miniatures were the precursors of landscape in Flemish art and the first great impetus to the use of nature in painting was given by the van Eycks (1380-1440). Roger van der Wey den, H. Mewling and Gbeerardt David cow- ' plete this period of Flemish art, reaching per haps the greatest attainments in landscape painting in the 15th century. Later Flemish painters were attracted by the glamour of the Italian Renaissance and the distinctiveness of the old Flemish school was temporarily sub , merged. The work of Bernard van Orley, however, showed originality and genius; and the influence of the true Flemish art was ap parent, likewise, in the productions pf Herri de Bles and Patenier. Brueghel follows with excellent work and one of his sons was notable, as were Paul and Matthew Bril. Rnbens did not paint landscapes until late in life and then was largely influenced by Titian; but in Ru ben's work appears the notable innovation of portraying the changes in the sky. Later in the development of Flemish art were Brouwer, a pupil of Frans Hals, Jacques d'Arthois, Cornelis Huysmans and Jan Srberechts.
The landscape in German art originated at Cologne in the work of Stephen Lochner and reached its greatest heights in the productions of Albert Durer of Nuremberg. Diirer showed originality and power as an interpreter of nature and stands alone in German art. It is nearly a century later that Adam Elsheimer comes into prominence, after which interval, strife appears to have suppressed art for a con siderable period. • In the early days of French landscape painting it is difficult to distinguish between the miniaturists and the painters. Jean Fouquet of Touraine practised both arts. The work of French artists was also considerably in fluenced by the presence in France of both Flemish and Italian art colonies, and the at traction Italy held for French painters had a powerful influence over the development of early French painters. Among the greatest of the early painters was Poussin, although his success came in Italy, and after him came Claude Lorraine whose work presents much of the grander aspects in nature with wonderful effects of space and atmosphere.