The painting of landscape changed dramatically in the period between 1660 and 1735. Initially the landscape element in a picture tended to be subordinate to other content such as the built environment. These paintings often focused on an aristocratic house, and its gardens and estates would be mapped out with exaggeratedly large perspective, emphasising the power of a landowner over the countryside. Landscape painting in this tradition demonstrated the authority and wealth of the patron rather than depicting nature for its own sake.
Later, landscape itself became the focus of attention and landscape painting was to become the genre with which British artists of the late eighteenth century are most closely associated. What were the reasons for this shift in interest?
View of a House and its Estate in Belsize, Middlesex by Jan Siberechts
View of Hampton Court Palace by Jan Griffier
View of Box Hill, Surrey by George LambertDISPLAY PAINTINGS
History Paintings
Chéron Verrio ThornhillPortraiture
Hayls Lely Kneller Hogarth