In the early sixteenth century, Albrecht Altdorfer promoted landscape from its traditional role as background to its new place as the focal point of a picture. His paintings, drawings, and etchings appeared almost without warning and mysteriously disappeared from view just as suddenly. In Albrecht Altdorfer and the Origins of Landscape, Christopher S. Wood shows how Altdorfer transformed what had been the mere setting for sacred and historical figures into a principal venue for stylish draftsmanship and idiosyncratic painterly effects. At the same time, his landscapes offered a densely textured interpretation of that quintessentially German locus—the forest interior. This revised and expanded second edition contains a new introduction, revised bibliography, and fifteen additional illustrations.

From rolling meadows to moody skies, how does the beauty, complexity, and dimensions of the world translate to artistic expression? Explore the evolution and importance of the landscape genre from the late Middle Ages to modern times in this selection of some of the most important landscapes in history from practitioners as diverse as Titian, ..

This book examines our relationship with the landscape around us - rivers, mountains, forests - the impact that each of them has had on our culture and imaginations, and the way in which we, in turn, have shaped them to suit our needs.

Credulity -- Reference by artifact -- Germany and "Renaissance"--Forgery -- Replica -- Fiction -- Re-enactment.

In the late Renaissance and early modern period, man's relationship to nature changed dramatically. An important part of this change occurred in the way that beauty was perceived in the natural world and in the particular features which became privileged objects of aesthetic gratification. This study explores the shift in aesthetic attitude towards the mountain that took place between 1450 and 1750. Based on previously unknown and unstudied material, this volume now contends that it took place earlier in the Latin literature of the late Renaissance and early modern period.