Table of Contents

FOREWORD 19 The Ancient World Classical Landscape Painting 23 "Country houses, colonnades, garden structures..." 24 The Idyllic Spot 26 Garden Art 28 The Portrayal of Real and Mythical Worlds 30 From the Close of Antiquity to the Beginning of the Modern Era The Ideal Landscape 33 Landscape as a Symbol of Good Government 36 The Beauty of Nature 37 From Giotto to Petrarch 38 Landscape and Dominion 40 Portrait and Territory 50 Profane Landscape as a Sacred Ground 54 The Invention of Landscape: The 16th Century Pastoral Idylls -- Venice 73 Giorgione 73 Villa Mania 78 In the Light of Titian 81 Mountains, Forests, Cities -- Germany 86 Albrecht Durer 86 The Rediscovery of Ancient Geography 87 Albrecht Altdorfer and the Danube School 90 World Landscapes -- Flanders 100 Joachim Patinier and Herri Met De Bles 100 Pieter Brueghel and His Age 106 Buyers and Collectors 112 World Pictures: The 17th Century Rome and the World 125 Accademia Del Naturale 127 Nature Imagined and Observed 134 Claude Lorrain and Nicolas Poussin 139 Heroic or Pastoral 148 Flemish Specialization 150 Mountains and Forests 150 Nature and Art 158 The Ideal of Country Life 162 Peter Paul Rubens 164 The Northern Netherlands 165 Plaisante Plaetsen -- Pleasant Spots 165 Their Own Way 178 Religious Issues 183 Specialization 188 Italianists 189 Questions of Meaning 200 The Realistic View 208 Regency, Enlightenment, and Romanticism: The 18th and 19th Centuries France 215 Fetes Galantes 215 Between a New Way of Looking and Traditional Ideas 221 Italy 230 Travel Fever 230 Identifiable Landscapes 234 The Actual View 238 England 239 A New Method 244 Topography 246 Constable and Turner 247 Germany 260 Inner Worlds: Caspar David Friedrich 260 Neoclassicists and Nazarenes 264 From Dusseldorf to St. Petersburg 273 New Departures: The 19th and 20th Centuries Pictures from the New World 279 France 296 Barbizon and Realism 296 Impressionism and Postimpressionism 308 Nabis and Fauves 335 From Symbolism to Art Nouveau 340 Modernism and Beyond: The 20th Century to the Present New Paths, New Ways of Seeing 357 Cubism 357 Neo-Plasticism 360 Futurism 362 Surrealism 362 Idylls and Catastrophes 370 The Blue Rider 370 Die Brucke 375 Political Landscapes 381 America 386 Looking Ahead 394 APPENDIX Bibliography 402 Index 410 Picture Credits 416

About the Author

Nils Buttner is a professor of art history at Dortmund University. He is the author of The Invention of the Landscape, the co-author of several books, the author of numerous catalog essays, and a curator of a number of museum exhibitions.

Reviews

"Assuredly, no one will ever write the definitive history of landscape that will please everyone, but Nils Buttner, author of The Invention of the Landscape, comes as close to the ideal of what such a history of the genre might be in this impressive tome. Lavishly and magnificently illustrated, Landscape Painting: A History covers a range of time that begins in antiquity and ends in the present. As with any such compendium, selection must occur (which is why Buttner calls it "a" history and not "the" history), but it must at all costs strive to be as inclusive as possible, and this he has done with considerable thought and care. Whatever your predilections and favorites, this is one book that is destined to be a favorite for a great many aficionados of the landscape painting." --Art Times "This powerful, comprehensive history of landscape painting is lavishly illustrated with reproductions of paintings from ancient times to the present... Strengths in this beautiful volume are apparent. Text and illustrations are skillfully integrated. Pictorial details are introduced where appropriate, each supporting the other; they enhance the text so readers can better understand and appreciate the image. The text itself is lucid as well as highly readable. Illustrations, some unfamiliar, strengthen the scholarly premises that the author develops. Buttner approaches his content in a narrative, almost vernacular manner, making this book appealing intellectually as well as aesthetically. HIGHLY RECOMMENDED." --Choice Magazine