Sunday, October 6, 2013

Liven Up A Room With The Help Of Famous Landscape Painters

By Angel Dudley


If you need to liven up one of your rooms, a striking work of art is the answer. Aside from bringing in some color it also provides something for visitors to talk about. Looking at a gorgeous landscape will also set your imagination free and you can dream of exotic shores courtesy of famous landscape painters.

While portraits and still lives show the subject up close, a landscape painting normally shows a panoramic view. Landscapes often depict scenes from nature, for instance mountains or lakes. They may show humans in the distance or structures like roads or houses that show the presence of people. The sky sets the tone by telling you what time of day it is and what the weather is like.

Landscapes have been inspiring artists since the earliest times. Early murals often depict scenes of people hunting in the wild, with mountains and rivers in the background. The ancient Romans often painted imaginary places that represented their idea of paradise. The Chinese did the same and often still do.

Not many artists painted landscapes during the Middle Ages, when religious subjects were all the rage. As this era drew to a close, however, artists started looking at the world around them and painted it. By the time of the Golden Age of Dutch painting in around the 1600s, many artists preferred painting landscapes. Esaias van de Velde, Aelbert Cuyp, Jacob van Ruisdael, Jan van Goyen and Pieter de Molyn were some of the foremost painters in the genre. Some Dutch artists lived and worked in England and Anthony van Dyck is often credited as the one who took the genre to the British Isles. There John Constable, Samuel Palmer, JMW Turner and other English artists perfected the tradition.

The exploration and colonization of the New World brought with it a treasure trove of new landscapes to paint. For example, in 1825, Thomas Cole traveled up the Hudson River, painted the Catskills and became the founder of the Hudson River School. Other artists in this group were Asher Durand, Frederic Edwin Church, Albert Bierstadt and John Frederick Kensett.

Many artists famous for other subject matter also painted extraordinary landscapes. Albrecht Durer, for instance, was known for his religious paintings but also created works like 'View of Arco'. Some of Vincent van Gogh's most beautiful works are landscapes, like 'Starry Night over the Rhone' and 'Wheatfield with Crows'.

If you have lots of money, a good investment is an original painting by a well-known artist. Your first stop should be art auctions. However, prestigious galleries may also have some paintings to sell.

If your budget is more modest, buying a print of an original painting is a good option. You can get prints of works by famous landscape painters from galleries or online. The museum shops at art museums also have prints of the works they display and these look wonderful when framed.




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