During the 1400s, artists increasingly looked to nature for inspiration. Painters observed the world around them at first hand to perfect their art. This was partly in response to legends about the painters of Antiquity, who were praised for their skill in imitating the natural world. Pisanello made extraordinary advancements in observing and recording the animal kingdom.
Artists like the Pollaiuolo brothers in Florence and Albrecht Altdorfer in the Danube valley portrayed the local landscapes in their paintings. They set religious, mythological and allegorical scenes (representing moral ideas) in places viewers would recognise, bringing their subjects closer to everyday life.
By the 1500s, artists were using landscape for expressive purposes. The innovative Venetian painter Giovanni Bellini matched the sacred themes of his religious subjects with their landscape settings. Giorgione drew on the classical idea of the 'pastoral' landscape, depicting the countryside as a poetic place of philosophical retreat.
In Antwerp, Joachim Patinir painted Christian scenes with fantastical landscapes, his small holy figures becoming secondary to their surroundings. His paintings feature high viewpoints, sweeping panoramas and dramatic rock formations. These works marked the beginning of landscape as an independent subject for paintings.
