If you think of a ‘stereotypical’ painting, the first thing that comes to mind is probably a lush countryside scene – probably the sort of picture we all loved drawing as children. And even if this were not the case, it cannot be denied that landscape, whether of a natural scene or an urban setting, has always constituted the starting point for the production of art.
Over the centuries, painters have approached the subject in all sorts of ways. I had the chance to reflect on art’s figurative conception of landscape when I went to the Italian exhibition ‘Verso Monet’ (‘Towards Monet’) over Easter. In the exhibition, the paintings were organized chronologically, to give the visitor a clear, albeit schematic, idea of the evolution of the role of landscape in painting. Such divisions are the very sort of thing that annoy a historian, and inevitably raise doubt and debate. However, as artificial as it may be, such classification is precisely what allows us to chart the general trend of depiction of landscape over the centuries.
Let us start our (quick) tour with the 17th century. Back then, the typical scene was intimately related to mythology. Paintings like those by Claude Lorrain, for instance, generally derive their subject from the Classical tradition, set in a fascinating landscape. Interestingly enough, on occasion the painter tends to give more importance to the background than to the characters, who sometimes seem too small to be significant. It looks like at this stage landscape is already influencing and charming artists, who end up neglecting the mythological tale and its human characters in order to focus on nature. However, the landscape is stereotyped and somewhat detached from reality.
In the 18th century, with the Enlightenment and the triumph of science, the most important artistic movement was Vedutism, namely the depiction of urban scenes (‘vedute’), painted in the fi nest detail. One of the most famous examples of this artistic trend is Canaletto, a Venetian painter who specialized in ‘vedute’ of his birthplace. The main aspect of his art is realism, and the goal to render the landscape as close to reality as possible. In order to do so, he uses the ‘camera obscura’, an optical device that projects an image onto a screen. In this way, Canaletto was able to produce painting that (quite literally) mirrored reality.
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In the 19th century, Romanticism started to spread in Europe, and with it a completely different conception of landscape. The world of interiority acquires more and more importance and, accordingly, landscape is perceived not so much as a place to investigate scientifically, but as a source of emotions of all kinds. The tempests of Turner, for instance, focus on the terrifying and shocking aspects of nature: the aim of his paintings is to instil awe and fear. On the other hand, if we consider an example taken from poetry, we see that nature can produce completely different emotions. The daffodils of Wordsworth, for instance, give him bliss and happiness; the feeling of joy is also to be found in the beautiful landscape to which the daffodils belong: “beside the lake, beneath the trees”, “stretched in never-ending line along the margin of a bay”.
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A significant revolution was brought about in the later 19th century by Impressionism. To put it rather simply, Monet changes the way we see and experience landscape. He is interested in the impression of the moment, and his brush-strokes are directed at capturing the light, the atmosphere, the sensations he is feeling right at the time he is painting.
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Monet’s aim was to portray his own impressions arising from nature, but paradoxically, he paints indoors. The famous concept of painting ‘en plein air’ is in fact a lie: impressionist painters would make a rapid sketch of the landscape, specifying the colours and shadows they wanted to include, and then go to their studios to put everything on a canvas. The whole process makes a lot of sense: if one stayed outdoors to finish one’s painting, one wouldn’t be able to capture the magic of the moment. Monet is interested in what nature can give him in a unique instance. The importance of conveying the ‘impression of the moment’ adds a reflection on time to two-dimensional figurative art. Going beyond mythology, realism, and emotions, it constitutes one of the greatest innovations in the history of art.
