Clarendon Studies in the History of Art S.

1 primary work

Art and Science in German Landscape Painting, 1770-1840

by Timothy Mitchell

Published 6 January 1994

This study considers the relationship between the history of German landscape painting and the history of geology. It is no coincidence that the decades now judged to be the golden age of geology also constituted the age of Romanticism - 1780-1830. The sentiments which influenced artists during this period meant that mountains, trees, sky and clouds were far more than symbols or potential allegories. Such natural phenomena were believed to have exerted a direct influence on cultural history. The history of landscape art reflects attitudes towards both nature and aesthetics: on the one hand - the earth's history was being rewritten and nature's powers re-evaluated, and on the other - philosophers and artists were redefining art and its role in society. At the same time aesthetics were gradually being altered by the belief that artistic values were not universal, but bound by time and place. As environmental determinism became an increasingly popular idea, careful depiction of the particularity of local terrain became of great importance.