Week 1

---

1          INTRODUCTION: THINKING ABOUT LANDSCAPES

2          LANDSCAPES IN ART BEFORE 1600: LANDSCAPE AS BACKDROP

 

These lectures will provide a general introduction to the paper by exploring some of our ideas about landscapes in life and in art, and examining how they first appear in painting. Focusing on the art of the Renaissance, we will look at the inclusion of landscapes as a requirement of the subject matter of works, and how they are used compositionally or to set a mood for a painting. During the sixteenth century in particular, landscapes began to occupy a more significant proportion of the surface of painted canvases, and in some cases became virtually an independent form. These ideas will generate some of the threads that we will be tracing through the course. In particular, we will be looking at two important approaches to landscape types – what we might call the empirical or observed landscape on the one hand, and the ideal or expressive landscape on the other.

 

1 & 2   READINGS

 

There are many general books on landscape art which you might wish to look at. One of the earliest to tackle this theme in art is

Clark, Kenneth. Landscape into art. London: J. Murray, 1976.

Another important early text for the rise of landscape painting is

Gombrich, Ernst. ‘The Renaissance Theory of Art and the Rise of Landscape’ in Norm and Form: Studies in the Art of the Renaissance. London: Phaidon, 1971, 107-121.

 

An antidote to Clark and a key text for this paper is the socio-historical emphasis of a series of essays in

Mitchell, W.J.T. Landscape and power. Chicago: University of Chicago Press, 1994.

(To introduce you to this different point of view, a copy of Mitchell’s opening essay ‘Imperial landscape’ is included in the readings in this course book.)

A text which examines landscape from a variety of interpretative viewpoints is

Andrews, Malcolm. Landscape and Western Art. Oxford: Oxford University Press, 1999.

If you were thinking of buying a book for this course I would recommend Andrews or Mitchell: I have asked the University Book Shop to order stocks.

 

A useful introduction to the idea of meaning in landscape is the essay by

Rosen, Charles and Zerner, Henri. ‘Caspar David Friedrich and the Language of Landscape’, Romanticism and realism: the mythology of nineteenth century art. London: Faber and Faber, 1984, 49-70.

Slide List Lecture 1: INTRODUCTION: THINKING ABOUT LANDSCAPES

 

‘The Romantics believed that the simplest forms of Nature could speak directly to us, could express sentiments and ideas without the intervention of culture; they dreamed of creating through landscape an art both personal and objective, an immediate, non-conventional universally intelligible expression, a language that would be not discursive but evocative.’ (Rosen & Zerner, Romanticism and Realism, 1984, 58-59.)

 

Iconic landmarks

 

1                    Acropolis, Athens

2                    One Tree Hill (Maungakiekie), Auckland

 

Ancient Roman gardens

 

3          Hadrian’s Villa, Tivoli, 2^nd C AD

4          House of the Gilded Cupid, Pompeii.   Before 79 AD

5          House of the Vettii, Pompeii, Before 79 AD

6          Villa at Boscoreale.   2^nd C BC (Metropolitan Museum of Art, N Y)

 

Three forms of landscape: domesticated; pastoral; historical

 

7          Casa del Frutello, Pompeii. Before 79 AD

8          House of Venus Marina, Pompeii. Before 79 AD

9          Villa of Livia, Porta Prima, Rome.   1st C AD

10        Pastoral scenes, Pompeii.   Before 79 AD

11        Scenes from the Odyssey, House on the Esquiline, Rome. 2^nd/1^st C BC

 

East/West comparisons

 

12        Chinese landscape paintings

13        Rita Angus Lake Wakatipu 1953

14        Hokusai Mt Fuji at Dawn 1830s

15        Christopher Perkins Mount Taranaki 1931

16        Hokusai Beneath the Wave of Kanagawa 1830s

17        Petrus van der Velden The Runaground 1912

 

Caspar David Friedrich (1774-1840): some landscape conventions

The high vantage point

18        The Traveller 1815

19        Chalk Cliffs on Rügen 1818/19

The special time of day

20        Woman in Front of the Setting Sun 1818

21        Man and Woman Contemplating the Moon 1830-35

The symbolic landscape

22        Woman on the Beach at Rügen 1818

23        The Stages of Life 1835

The room with a view

24        Woman at a Window 1822

25        View from the Artist’s Studio 1805-6

Slide List Lecture 2: LANDSCAPE AS ‘BACKDROP’

 

1 Tres Riches Heures de Duc de Berry. 1416. (June, October; January, May)

 

Peter Brueghel (1525/30-1569)

2 The Harvesters. 1565. New York

3 Hunters in the Snow. 1565. Vienna

 

Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528)

4 Watercolour studies from nature

5 Weiherhauslein bei St Johannes

6 Virgin Mary with a Monkey engraving

 

Giotto (1266/7 -1337)

7 The Flight into Egypt. Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. 1303-6.

8 The Lamentation.  Scrovegni Chapel, Padua. 1303-6.

 

 Piero della Francesca (1410/20-92)

9 The Resurrection.   San Sepolcro. 1459.

10 The Baptism of Christ.  1444-5. Nat Gall, London.

11 The Flagellation of Christ. 1450. Urbino.

12 The Ideal City. (Anon sometimes attributed to Piero) Urbino.

 

Perugino (1445/50-1523)

13 Christ Giving the Keys to St Peter.   Sistine Chapel, Vatican. 1480-82.

 

Raphael (1483-1520)

14 The Betrothal of the Virgin. 1504. Brera, Milan.

 

Paolo Uccello (1396/7-1475)

15 Hunt in the Forest.  1465-70. Oxford.

16 Battle of San Romano. 1445. Nat Gall, London.

 

Piero

17 Triumph of Federico Montefeltro & Battista Sforza. Florence. 1465-70

 

Giovanni Bellini (1430-1516)

18 Madonna and Child.  1488. Nat Gall, London.

19 The Madonna of the Meadow. 1500. Nat Gall,  London.

 

Raphael

20 Madonna of the Meadow. 1506.  Vienna.

21 Foligno Madonna. 1512.  Vatican Pinacoteca.

22 Allegory: Vision of a Knight. 1500. Nat Gall, London.

23 Parnassus.  Stanza della Segnatura, Vatican, Rome. 1509-10.

 

Bellini

24 Sacred Allegory. 1490-1500. Florence.

25 Feast of the Gods. 1514. Washington.

 

Giorgione (1476/8-1510)

26 Sleeping Venus. 1510.  Dresden.

27 Concert Champetre. 1510-11. Paris (also attributed to Titian).

 

Palladio (1508-80)

28 Villa Capra (Rotunda), Vicenza.  1566-71

 

Uccello

29 St George and the Dragon. 1470. Nat Gall, London.

 

Raphael

30 St George and the Dragon. 1505-6. Nat Gall, Washington.

 

Giorgione

31 Landscape with St George and the Dragon. 1506-10. Nat Gall, London.

 

Tintoretto (1518-94)

32 St George and the Dragon. 1550-70. Nat Gall, London.

33 St Mary of Egypt/Mary Magdalen. Scuolo di San Rocco, Venice. 1582-87

 

Giorgione

34 Tempest. 1510.  Venice.

 

El Greco (1541-1614)

35 Agony in the Garden. 1590-5. Nat Gall, London.

36 Toledo. 1600. New York.