History of Landscape
17th Century
By the 17th century there were two main centres of landscape painting in Europe: Italy, where landscape did not enjoy high status and paintings of landscapes tended to be idealised and classical, and the Netherlands.
In the Netherlands, great political changes for the country were reflected in its artwork when the Northern Netherlands won independence from Spain. People no longer wanted Catholic artworks linked to Spanish rule and many artists turned to painting the flat, recognisable landscape of the Dutch Republic, which reflected national pride.
By the late 17th century, many landscapes in the Netherlands were deeply influenced by the traditions and landscape of Italy in their use of light and colour.
Claude (Claude Gellée) (1604/5? - 1682)
Landscape with Apollo and Mercury, 1660