What's In A Landscape?

Throughout art history, there has been a continual, but oftentimes silent, debate regarding the significance and importance of various artistic styles, and different eras place different values on these styles. In the wake of the Italian Renaissance in the mid-16^th century, the practice of ranking different genres of paintings emerged, with emphasis on the creative and thoughtful compositions. These types of paintings, such as history paintings or portraits, were viewed as higher forms of art, while still-lifes and landscapes were not as revered. Even so, landscape paintings pop up quite frequently throughout this time period, but the mood within the landscapes continually changes.

The time between the 16^th – 20^th centuries saw numerous cultural shifts happening throughout the world, and these changes are reflected in the artwork of the respective eras. Specifically with landscape paintings, the prevailing attitude toward, and focus on, the natural world varied during this time period. The original trend in art history was to portray nature as an asset of humanity – one over which we assert dominance and control – but in the middle of the 19^th century, this idea was turned on its head, following largely from the writings of Jean-Jacques Rousseau. Rather than viewing the natural world as a controllable tool, Romantic artists revered nature as having its own power and strength, one that humans could not, and should not, tame. This reverence for the natural world carried influence into the 20^th century, but the focus again shifted to desiring a more distant encounter with nature rather than emphasis on a sublime, intimate, experience. The purpose of this exhibition is to demonstrate the shifting perspectives of the natural world as evidenced through its portrayal in 17^th – 20^th century artwork.

Frans Post, A Brazilian Landscape, 1650, Oil on wood, 24 x 36 in., 1981.318

Frans Post was a Dutch artist during the Dutch Golden Age whose many landscape paintings were held in high esteem. A Brazilian Landscape is one of a variety of paintings that Post created after returning to the Netherlands from the Dutch colony of Brazil in the early-to-mid 1600s. Dutch landscapes at this time were unique in their emphasis on the sky, and within that framework this painting also follows the trend of nature being tame. The sky is cloudy, but not menacing, the hills are gently rolling with lush, green grass, and the sea in the background has a sort of inviting shimmer to it. The tameness of this nature scene is highlighted by the procession of the native Brazilian Tupi’s coming through the hills with baskets made of straw and minimal pieces of clothing, providing a sense of dominance over their environment.

François Boucher, Washerwomen, 1768, Oil on canvas, 95 x 93 in., 53.225.2

Boucher’s Washerwomen serves as a transition piece between the tame view of nature shown in Post’s painting and the power of nature revered by Romanticism. The soft colors lend a smooth and calming feeling to the scene and the subject of three women, alone, hints to a perception of security in this natural space. This, along with the action of washing clothes, projects the impression of control and power over the natural world by the way they are redirecting the use of the river to fit the needs of human civilization. There is a contrast, however, between this and the roughness and dirtiness with which the gravel and the trees are depicted. The vines growing over the stone bridge in the background lends a sort of awareness to the power of nature over human invention because it shows nature reclaiming what man has attempted to use to keep it at bay. The skewed horizon line that tilts down to the left also gives a sense of wrongness or awkwardness to the painting and makes it feel unsturdy.

Hubert Robert, The Mouth of a Cave, 1784, Oil on canvas, 68.75 x 31.25 in., 17.190.25 

The Mouth of a Cave was commissioned by a French aristocrat, Charles Phillippe, comte d’Artois, to be displayed in his private get-a-way, the Château de Bagatelle. This painting is one of six to be commissioned for the château, and all six portrayed a dominating presence of nature. Robert’s style was influenced by Boucher, but his exuberance of the power of the natural world was his own unique adaptation. This painting is iconic of the Romantic view of nature as being a dominating force, which is exemplified by the scale of the cave wall and the vegetation in comparison to the people at the bottom. This specific landscape painting in particular also displays the magnificence of the natural world by its sheer size, presenting the feeling that you are in the cave as well.

Theodore Gericault, Evening: Landscape with an Aqueduct, 1818, Oil on canvas,

98 ½ x 86 ½ in., 1989.183

This piece of art shows a continuation of the Romantic ideal of the power of nature. As in Robert’s The Mouth of a Cave, the people in this painting are small and insignificant compared to the rocks, the mountains in the distance, and the water itself. Gericault’s painting also connects back to Boucher’s Washerwomen by the vines and leaves that are taking over the stone tower on the left side of the composition. The colors in Gericault’s painting also have a more sinister tone, with the clouds being dark and stormy and a creeping shadow coming across the city buildings, which seems to foreshadow an impending and uncontrollable doom.

Asher Brown Durand, Landscape – Scene from “Thanatopsis”, 1850, Oil on canvas,

39 ½ x 61 in., 11.156

Durand’s painting exemplifies the view of the natural world as being the ultimate power over humanity. He is inspired to paint this landscape by William Cullen Bryant’s poem “Thanatopsis,” which emphasizes the everlasting nature of the earth and the fleeting nature of humans. This painting exhibits that view by the presence of the stone ruins in the foreground, again showing that man cannot conquer and subdue nature, and the funeral in the middle of the painting. Though, like Robert and Gericault, Durand paints the people in such a small scale as compared to the rest of the natural world that they are almost obscured by the trees which likewise points to the power of nature over humanity by reminding us that, in the end, we, also, are reclaimed by the earth.

Alexandre Calame, Landscape, 19^th century, Etching, 47.100.693

This landscape etching continues the trend of portraying a reverence of the natural world through the medium Calame chooses to use and the amount of detail that he puts into the picture. The process of etching is complex and time-consuming, so since Calame took the time to create an intricately detailed etching of a landscape shows how important nature was to him. The absence of color also contributes to a sense of power and awe by creating a feeling of timelessness – the natural world has existed since the beginning of time and will continue existing and taking care of itself without human interference. This composition differs from the previous landscapes in the absence of any evidences of civilization, which infers that humans are not important enough to be included; nature by itself is enough.

Tiffany Studios (Designed by Agnes F. Northrop), Autumn Landscape, 1923-24, Leaded Favrile glass, 132 x 102 in., 25.173a-o

Autumn Landscape is made entirely from glass and was commissioned by Loren D. Towle for his Boston Gothic mansion in 1923, though it was never actually installed. This landscape composition embodies another shift in the perception of nature toward one of recognizing the beauty and fragility of it. The colors in this picture are exaggerated, indicating a fabricated reality, yet there is still a draw to the created beauty and a desire to find this oasis. On the other hand, given it is made from glass – a fragile and breakable medium – there is a projection of this fragility onto the landscape itself. It also gives the sense that maybe our experiences with nature should mimic our experience with this painting: distant and observed through an open window, rather than going into and having an intimate encounter with the natural world.