what is the picturesque ?

What is the picturesque??

The picturesque describes the visual arts this means landscapes and views of reality it shows the same emotions of romanticism. The term picturesque comes from the word pittoresco from italion which means ‘as in a picture’. At the time nobody was certain what the picturesque was about. From the year which it was invented the definition of the term changed a lot. The artists who began the picturesque were Claude Lorrain 1600 -1682 and Nicolas Poussin 1594 -1655, their work show elements of nature and landscapes and strong visual arts landscapes gardening and architecture. It was an invention of the British and the British were the first tourists. The picturesque became popular from travelling of the grand tour; the grand tour was the trip to Europe who upper class young men used to go on and these men was seeing landscapes. This era began tourism which means of travelling and seeing more landscapes. This is the time were they used to experiment with landscapes views.  This time shows the same term of romanticism nature is freedom.

Claude Lorrain:   he was a French painter, he spend most of his life in Italy and he is known for his landscapes he was born on 1600 or 1604 and died on the 21 November or 23 aged 82 or 77. He was in the movement of baroque but then broke from it and he is famous for picturesque, landscapes and he was influenced by J.M.W Turner, John constable.

 

The embarkation of the queen of Sheba 1648

Landscape with Apollo guarding the herds of Admetus and mercury steeling them 1645

You can see that in both of them nature and perspective which shows the landscapes are much of evidence of this era and even how they used to live.

Bibliography: The picturesque - history,theory and definition. 2013. The picturesque - history,theory and definition. [ONLINE] Available at:http://www.squidoo.com/the-picturesque. [Accessed 08 March 2013]. 

Grand Tour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Grand Tour - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Grand_Tour. [Accessed 08 March 2013].

Claude Lorrain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. 2013. Claude Lorrain - Wikipedia, the free encyclopedia. [ONLINE] Available at:http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Claude_Lorrain. [Accessed 08 March 2013].