The magnificence of the Mother Nature and the exquisiteness of the heavens have found expressions in art and paintings from ancient times. Aristotle has described art as a replication of life. There is human tendency that whatever good thing he sees around he wants to remember it for long. So now days we have cameras, handy cams, etc to capture image or do video shoot. But in ancient time we did not had cameras or handy cams whatever we saw we had to put on the paper. This was the origin of landscape paintings. It is a genre old art as old as first century A.D.
Landscape art describes the nature its scenic beauty, sky and the climatic condition whether it is raining or it is windy. This all comes under the scope of landscape painting. The word landscape has its origin from Dutch the meaning of it is patch of cultivated ground. In 17th century it was included in English vocabulary. Landscape painting started gaining recognition first in Europe in 15th Century after that in rest of the world. The themes used in these paintings were initially on religious subjects. Examples can be given such as the Journey of Magi, or Saint Jerome in the Desert.
It is believed that landscape painting have the origin in china. But till the middle ages it had not earned much recognition. It is believed that the first landscape painting came around 1335 by an Italian painter Ambrogio Lorenzetti. Claude Lorrain a French artist was famous for reproduction of 'classical landscape'. The contribution of Paul Bril and Adam Elsheimer and the Italian painters, Annibale Carracci and Domenichino helped in flourishment of ‘classical landscape' in Rome.
The works of Dutch School comprising of Rembrandt, Cuyp, Koninck, Hobbema, Ruisdael, Van Goyen and others saw the landscape paintings embracing domestic and familiar setting in 17th century. Constable, Cotman, Crone, Turner, Bonington and Wilson are the notable English painters in 19th century which followed suit to the Dutch in reproducing exuberant paintings.
With the invention of oil paint that too in a tube changed the total style of painting. Artists started to go out directly in nature put the drawing board openly and started painting directly from the landscape. This bought more reality to the landscape painting.Further Vincent van Gogh depicted personal emotions by carrying the tradition forward through his paintings. In early twentieth century the landscape paintings by Paul Nash and Graham Sutherland showed the blend of Romanticism and new art & literature.
With the sunrise of the modernism, landscape painting is projecting some courageous realism. In recent we can see even poetic approach by the works of Roger de Gary. Thomas Cole started the school for landscape painting in US by name Hudson River School, has taken it to new heights.
With the passage of time, the trends in the art are also changing. With new movements, new innovations, new explorations has taken art to new dimensions, this has direct influence on landscape painting. Original paintings done by renowned artists are treasured and will be kept for generations to come. Landscape painting is the heart of the artist which he is pouring in his painting.
