1. Prospect, Perspective and the Evolution of the Landscape Idea
Author(s): Denis Cosgrove
Reviewed work(s):
Source: Transactions of the Institute of British Geographers, New Series, Vol. 10, No. 1 (1985),
pp. 45-62
Published by: Wiley-Blackwell on behalf of The Royal Geographical Society (with the Institute of British
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Stable URL: http://www.jstor.org/stable/622249 .
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2. 45
Prospect, and evolution
perspective the of
the idea
landscape
DENIS COSGROVE
Lecturer Geography,
Senior in Loughborough Loughborough, LE113 TU
University, Leic.
Revised received May 1984
MS 24
ABSTRACT
Thelandscape concept geography recently adopted humanistic
in has been by writers because itsholistic subjec-
of and
tive But history the
implications. the of landscape suggests itsorigins inthe
idea that lie renaissancehumanists' for
search
rather a
certainty than vehicle individual
of Landscape a 'wayofseeing' wasbourgeois,
subjectivity. was that individual-
of
istandrelated theexercise power
to overspace. Thebasictheory technique thelandscape ofseeing
and of way was
linear for history the
perspective,important the
as of graphic image printing for ofthe
as was that written word. Alberti's
perspective thefoundationrealism art
was of in until nineteenth
the century, is closely
and related him social
by to class
andspatial Itemploys same
hierarchy. the as
geometry merchant and
trading accounting, land
navigation, survey, map-
and
ping artillery. Perspectivefirst
is applied the andthen a country
in city to subjugated urban
to control viewed
and as
landscape. evolution landscape
The of paintingparallels ofgeometry as itdoesthechanging
that just socialrelationson
thelandinTudor, and
Stuart Georgian England. visual
The power given thelandscape ofseeing
by way complements
the power
real humans exert land property.
over as Landscape a geographical
as concept cannot free the
be of ideological
overlays itshistory a visual
of as conceptunless subjects
it landscape historical
to interrogation. as anunexamined
Only
in
concept a geography which neglects ownvisual
its foundations landscape appropriated an antiscientific
can be for
humanistic geography.
KEY WORDS: Landscape,Geometry,
Perspective, Humanism,
Prospect, Ideology, image,Cartography,
Graphic
Chorography,
Seeing,
Painting, Survey,
Morphology, Space.
Geographical interest the landscapeconcepthas
in geographical environment, aspects which
seen a revival recent
in years.In largemeasure is
this geographical scienceis claimedto have devaluedat
a consequence of the humanist renaissance in best and at worst,ignored.Marwyn Samuels,for
geography. Havingenjoyeda degreeofprominence example,3 refers to landscapes as 'authored',
in the interwar years,landscapefellfrom favourin CourticeRose thinking along similarlines would
the 1950s and 1960s. Its reference the visible
to analyse landscapes as texts,4and Edward Relph
forms a delimited
of area to be subjectedto mor- regardslandscapeas 'anything see and sensewhen
I
phologicalstudy in
(a usage stillcurrent theGerman I am out of doors-landscape is thenecessary con-
'landscapeindicators' school)' appeared subjective textand background bothof mydailyaffairs ofand
and too imprecisefor Anglo-Saxon geographers themoreexoticcircumstances mylife'.5
of American
developinga spatialscience.The static, descriptive humanist geographers have adopted landscapefor
morphologyof landscape ill-suitedtheir call for theveryreasonsthattheir predecessorsrejected It
it.
dynamic functionalregions to be defined and appears to point towardsthe experiential, creative
by
investigated geographers contributing econ-
to and humanaspects of our environmental relations,
omicand socialplanning.2 ratherthan to the objectified, manipulatedand
Recently, and primarilyin North America, mechanical aspectsof thoserelations. is the latter
It
geographers have sought to reformulate landscape againstwhichhumanism a protest,
is whichRelph
as a concept whose subjective and artistic tracesto the seventeenth centuryscientificrevol-
resonances to be actively
are embraced. They allow utionand itsCartesian of
division subject and object.
forthe incorporation individual,
of imaginative and Landscape seems to embody the holism which
creative human experience into studies of the modern humanists proclaim.
N.S. 10: 45-62 (1985) ISSN: 0020-2750
Inst.Br.Geogr.
Trans. Printed GreatBritain
in

3. 46 DENIS COSGROVE
a
In Britain revivalof landscapeis also apparent. dominationover space as an absolute, objective
Here the humanist critique geographyhas been entity,its transformation
in into the propertyof
less vocal. Recent landscape study has remained individualor state. And landscape achieved these
closerto popularusage of theword as an artistic or ends by use of the same techniques thepractical
as
literaryresponse to the visible scene.6 Among sciences, by
principally applying Euclidian geometry
British geographers interest in landscape was as the guarantor certainty spatialconception,
of in
stimulated by
partly perception studies, and In
particularly organization representation. thecase of land-
the short-lived excitement over landscape evalu- scape the techniquewas optical,linearperspective,
ation forplanningpurposeswhichsurrounded the but the principlesto be learned were identical
1973 reformof local government.7 This led to to those of architecture, survey,map-making and
variousmechanistic theories landscapeaesthetics artillery
of science.The same handbookstaughtthe
which, like Jay Appleton's ethologically-foundedpractitioners ofthesearts.1
all
and influential 'habitattheory'of landscape,8had Landscape, thepractical
like sciencesof theItalian
littlein commonwiththe humanism proclaimed in Renaissance, founded
was upon scientific theory and
NorthAmerican studies. knowledge. Its subsequent history can best be
Epistemological divergence notwithstanding,understoodin conjunction with the history sci-
of
landscapeis again a focusof geographical interest. ence.Yet in itscontemporary humanist guise within
Withthatinterest come a refreshing
has willingness geography, landscapeis deployedwithin radically
a
to
bygeographers employlandscaperepresentations anti-scientific programme. Significantly that pro-
-in painting,imaginativeliterature and garden gramme equallynon-visual.
is Recentprogrammatic
design-as sources for answering geographical statements geographical of humanism (and critiques
questions.9 The purposeof thispaper is to support of it) in the pages of these Transactions notable are
and promote that initiative while simultaneously for their concentration verbal,
on and
literary linguis-
enteringcertaincaveats about adopting the land- tic modes of communication for theiralmnost and
scape idea without subjecting historical complete neglect of the visual and its place in
it to critical
examinationas a term which embodies certain geography.12 The attack scienceis characteristic
on
assumptions about relationsbetween humansand of much contemporary humanist writing. But the
their environment, morespecifically,
or society and apparent ofinterest thegraphic
lack in imageis more
space. These caveats go beyond landscapeas such surprising. Considerthe traditions our discipline,
of
and touch upon aspects of the whole humanist its alignment with cartography and the long-held
endeavour within geography. belief thattheresults geographical
of scholarship are
Landscape firstemerged as a term,an idea, or bestembodiedin themap.Considertoo thehuman-
a
betterstill, way ofseeingiothe external world,in ists'proclaimed in
interest images place and land-
of
the fifteenth early sixteenth
and centuries. was, scape, and yet their remarkable
It neglect of the
and it remains, visualterm, thatarose initially visual.13 Indeed the clearest statementof the
a one
out of renaissance humanism its particular
and of in
con- centrality sight geography thatI knowis found
cepts and constructs space. Equally,landscape in William Bunge's TheoreticalGeography,a
of
was, overmuchofitshistory, for
closelyboundup with manifesto spatialscience:'geography the one is
the practicalappropriation of space.As we shallsee, predictivescience whose inner logic is literally
its connections were withthe surveyand mapping visible'.'4 Bunge's book may be closer in spirit to
of newly-acquired, consolidated and 'improved' the original humanist of
authors thelandscapeidea
commercialestates in the hands of an urban than his contemporary humanist critics.The book
bourgeoisie;with the calculationof distance and after is a celebration thecertainty geometry
all of of
for
trajectory cannonfire and of defensive fortifica- as theconstructional of
principle space.
tions against the new weaponry; and with the In fact,the humanist attackon science and its
projectionof the globe and its regionsonto map neglectof the visual image in geographyare not
graticulesby cosmographers and chorographers, unconnected. They both resultin some measure
those essential set designers for Europe's entry from lack of critical
the on
reflection the European
centre-stage of the world'stheatre. painting
In and humanist tradition, from conflation thespatial
the of
garden design landscape achieved visually and theme geography in witha positivist epistemology,
ideologicallywhat survey,map makingand ord- and froma mystification art and literature. of All
nance charting achievedpractically: control
the and threeof these aspects will be illustrated a brief in

4. Evolutionthe
of landscapeidea 47
exploration thelandscapeidea as a way of seeing Gutenberg invention of movable type in the
of
in the Europeanvisual tradition, emphasizing that 1440s.16In thequadrivium, alwaysmoretheoretical,
tradition's most enduring convention space rep- the criticaladvance came fromthe re-evaluation
of
resentation, linearperspective. thisexploration of Euclid and the elevation of geometryto the
In I
shall justify and elaboratethe claim thatthe land- keystone of human knowledge, specificallyits
scape idea is a visual ideology;an ideology all too application to three-dimensional space represen-
easily adopted unknowingly into geographywhen tationthrough single-pointperspective theoryand
the landscapeidea is transferred an unexamined technique. Perspective, the medieval study of
as
conceptintoourdiscipline. optics, was one of the mathematical arts,studied
since the twelfth-century revival of learning,
GEOMETRY, PERSPECTIVE AND as evidencedfor example in Roger Bacon's work.
RENAISSANCE HUMANISM Painterslike Cimabue and Giotto had constructed
Traditionally the seven liberal arts of medieval theirpicturesin new ways to achieve a greater
scholarship weregroupedintotwo sets.The trivium realism(il vero)than theirpredecessors.'7But the
was composed of grammar, rhetoric and logic; the theoretical practical
and development a coherent
of
of
quadrivium arithmetic, geometry, astronomy and linear perspective awaited the fifteenth-century
music.While in its narrowest definition humanism Tuscan Renaissance.That movement,despite its
referred studies in the trivium(the recovery, emphasison classicaltexts,grammar
to and rhetoric,
securedatingand translation texts),manyearly revolutionized
of in
spatial apprehensions the west.
renaissance humanists wereequallyfascinated the For the plastic and visual arts:painting,
by sculpture
material thequadrivium,
of seeking unity know- and architecture, forgeography
a of and and cosmology,
ledge acrossall thearts.15 The fifteenth century saw all concerned with space and spatial relations,
revolutionary advances in both sets of studies, it was fromthe quadrivium, fromgeometryand
advanceswhichaltered theirorganization, socialsig- number theory, that form and structurewere
nificance rolein theproduction communica- determined-eveniftheir
and and content was providedby
tionofhuman knowledge theworldand ourplace thetrivium.
of
within In the arenaof words,languageand writ-
it. In 1435 the Florentine humanistand architect
ten expressionthe most striking advance was the Leon Battista Alberti published Della Pittura
his (On
--- Median rays
Extrinsic
rays
Centric
ray
FIGURE 1. The visual triangle describedby Alberti(fromSamuel Y. EdgertonJr,
as The Renaissance
rediscovery linear
of perspective,
Harperand Row, London,1975, reproducedwithpermission)

5. 48 DENISCOSGROVE
a
painting),'8 workwhose authority artistic in the- appreciated (Fig 2). We need not concernourselves
ory enduredbeyond the eighteenth century when herewiththe detailsand accuracy Alberti's
of con-
Sir JoshuaReynolds,first president of the Royal struction (exceptperhaps to note the definition of
Academy,used it as the foundation his lectures pyramid,
for lifted directly from Euclid).Butwe should
on pictorial composition, beautyand the hierarchy observecertain consequences thatflowfrom First,
it.
of genres.In Della Pittura Albertidemonstrates form a and positionin space are shownto be relative
technique whichhe had workedout experimentallyrather thanabsolute.The forms whatwe see, of
of
forconstructing visualtriangle
a whichallowed the objects in space and of geometrical figures them-
painter determine shapeand measurement a selves,vary withthe angle and distanceof vision.
to the of
griddedsquareplaced on the groundwhen viewed They are producedby the sovereigneye, a single
along the horizontal axis, and to reproduce pic- eye, for this is not a theoryof binocularvision.
in
torial formits appearance to the eye. The con- Secondly,Alberti regards raysof visionas hav-
the
struzioneleggitimagave the realist illusion of ing origin in the eye itself, thus confirming its
three-dimensional space on a two-dimensional sur- sovereigntyat the centre of the visual world.
face.This construction, foundation linear
the of per- Thirdly,he creates a technique which became
spective, dependedupon conceptsof the vanishing fundamental the realistrepresentation space
to of
point, distancepointand intersecting plane. Alberti and theexternal world.The artist, through perspec-
describes as a triangle raysextending
it of outwards tive, establishesthe arrangement composition,
or
from eye and striking objectof vision.There and thusthe specific
the the time,of the eventsdescribed,
are threekindsofray(Fig I). determines-inboth senses-the 'pointof view' to
be taken theobserver, controls
by and through fram-
Theextrinsic thus
rays, circling plane-one touch- ing the scope of reality
the revealed.Perspective tech-
ing the other, encloseall the planelikethe willow nique was so effective thatthe realistconventions
wands of a basketcage, and make the visual which it underlaywere not
... chal-
fundamentally
pyramid.is time meto describe thepyramid lengeduntil nineteenth
It for what the century.20
is and how it is constructed theserays... The
by Realistrepresentation three-dimensional
of space
pyramid a figure a bodyfrom
is of whose baselines are
drawn upward, terminating at a single point. Thebase on a two-dimensional surfacethroughlinearper-
is
ofthepyramid theplane which seen.Thesidesof spective directs the externalworld towards the
is
are
thepyramid therays I
which havecalled extrinsic.individual locatedoutsidethat space.It givestheeye
Thecuspid, is thepoint thepyramid,located absolutemastery
that of is over space. The centric moves
ray
within eyewhere angle the
the the of quantity is.19 in a direct line from eye to thevanishing
the point,
to the depth of the recessionalplane. Space is
The visual pyramid here described familiar
is to measured and calculated from thisline and the rest
every geographerwho reads Area, although its of what is seen constructed around the vanishing
geographicalsignificance may not always be fully point and withinthe frame fixedby external rays.
Ii
ii
Observation
FIGURE 2. A seventeenth-century ofseeing'(familiar readersofArea)
'way to

6. Evolutionthe idea
of landscape 49
...
..
..
...
..........
.....
...... ...............
...as ~
................
~ ......
....
--
.... .:??
w~~?:;?~?
~1.
..
.............
3.
FIGURE Ambrogio in detail
'GoodGovernmenttheCity'
Lorenzetti: PalazzoPubblico,
from Siena(ditta B6hm)
O.
Visually space is renderedthe propertyof the Peterthe Keys to the Kingdom Heaven (Fig 4) of
individualdetached observer,fromwhose divine painted thewall oftheSistine
on Chapelin 1481,the
location it is a dependent, appropriated object. A significance perspective clear.Lorenzetti
of is shows
simplemovement the head, closingthe eyes or us thecityas an activebustling
of worldof humanlife
turning away and the composition and spatialform wherein people and their environment interact
of objects are alteredor even negated. Develop- across a space whereunityderivesfrom action the
mentsfromthe fifteenth century may have altered on itssurface.
the assumedpositionof the observer, used per-
or
ratherthan synthetically as urban
Thesepre-perspective landscapes shownot so
spective analytically much what towns
the looked as what felt to
like it like
Alberti and his contemporaries intended,21 this
but
be inthem. getan impression thetowns as
We of not
visual appropriation space endured unaltered.
of
observer a
they might havelooked a detached
to from
Significantly, adoption of linearperspective
the as have a
fixedvantage point as they
but might impressed
of
theguarantor pictorial realism was contemporary
pedestrianwalking thestreets seeing build-
up and the
withthose otherrealist of
techniques painting: oils, ingsfrom many differentsides.23
framing production a market mobile,
and for of small
canvases. In this respect perspective may be By contrast, Perugino'sideal city a formal,
in
regarded as one of a numberof techniques which monumentalorder is organized throughprecise
allowed forthevisualrepresentation a bourgeois, geometry,
of constructed the eye aroundthe axis
by
rationalistconception theworld.
of whichleads across the chequerboard piazza to the
The term bourgeois is appropriate, linearper- circular
for temple at its centre. The piazza,geometrical
spectivewas an urbaninvention, employedinitially centre thiscity,
of becomesin thisgenresymbolic of
to represent the spaces of the city. It was first the whole city.24 The hillsand treesbeyondreflect
demonstrated practically Alberti's
by close associate, thesameregimented orderas theurbanarchitecture.
Filippo Brunelleschi, a famous
in experiment of 1425 The people of the city,or rather within forthey
it,
whenhe succeededin throwing imageoftheBap- reveal no particular
an to
attachment it, group them-
at
tistery Florence onto a canvas set up in the great selves in dignified theatrical
and poses. In the 'ideal
portal of the cathedral.22 we compareAmbrogio townscapes' of the late fifteenth-century
If Umbrian
Lorenzetti's well-known frescoes thePalazzo Pub- school of Piero della Francesca humans scarcely
in
blico at Siena (Fig 3) whichrepresent good govern- appear. They have no need to forthe 'measureof
mentin the city,paintedin the 1340s, withPeitro man',so neatly in
captured Leonardoda Vinci'sMan
Perugino's representation of Christgiving to St ina Circle a Square, written
and is intothemeasured

7. 50 DENIS COSGROVE
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'Christgivingto St PetertheKeys to theKingdomofHeaven' VaticanCity,SistineChapel (dittaO. B6hm)
FIGURE 4. PietroPerugino:
architectural facadesand proportioned spaces of the appear in printedbook form, followingonly two
city,an intellectual measure ratherthan sensuous yearsafter first
the printed and
geometry setting the
humanlife.25 This alertsus to thefactthatperspec- model fora collection latertexts.Paciolidevotes
of
tiveand itsgeometry a greater
had significancethan thesecondbook of thevolumeto geometry the and
merely employment a painting
its as technique. measurement distance,surfaceand volume. He
of
The mathematics geometry
and associated with points out the value of such skillsforland survey
perspective were directly relevant the economic
to and map making,.for and
warfare navigation. Froma
lifeof the Italianmerchant citiesof theRenaissance, text like thisItalianmerchants learnedto calculate
to trading and capitalist to
finance, agriculture and visually 'gauge' by eye and usingntthevolumeof
or
theland market, navigation
to and warfare. Michael a barrel, churn, haystack other
a a or regularshape,a
Baxandall26 shownthatmerchants
has attending the valuable skillin an age beforestandardsizes and
abbacoor commercial school in theiryouthunder- volumesbecame thenorm. This visualgaugingwas
took a curriculum whichprovidedthe key skillsof regarded a wonderful
as skill.In thewordsof Silvio
for in
mathematics application commerce: account- Belliwriting visual survey 1573: 'certainly is
of in it
ing, book-keeping, calculation interest
of and rates a wondrousthingto measurewiththeeye,because
of return, determining in
proportions jointriskven- to everyone who does not know its rationaleit
tures.One of the most commonly used testssum- appears completely impossible.'28 It has been
marizingthe various merchant skillswas Fra Luca arguedthatthesearchforaccurate visualtechniques
Pacioli's Summa di Arithmetica, Geometria, Propor- of land survey held back Italian innovationsin
tioneet Proportionalita (1494).27 Its author,a close for
instrumentation manydecades,29 but thesignifi-
friend Leonardo,
of acknowledges Alberti well as
as cance accorded to it indicates the importance
Ptolemy and Vitruvius, of courseEuclidamong
and attachedto the power of vision linkedto intellect
his sources.While Piero della Francesca had himself throughgeometry, and how the principles which
written earlier
an text,De Abbaco,Pacioli'swas the underlayperspectivetheory were the everyday
firstcompletemanual of practicalmathematics to skills theurban
of merchant.

8. the idea
Evolution landscape
of 51
in
Not all land surveywas by eye. The astrolabe, creation whichGod was to be foundat thecentre
quadrant and plane tablewere in use and discussed and circumference the cosmos. A regular
of
in the textscited.For map makersand navigators geometryproceedingfromthe perfection the of
these were crucialinstruments. they required circleunderlaythe structure both spiritual
But of and
geometrical calculation to make their results temporal worlds.Geometry proportion
and took on
meaningful. a
The Italian renaissancewas a carto- therefore metaphysical one
significance, thatwas
graphic as muchas an artistic event.Ptolemy whose given even greater weight withthe translating and
Almagest had always rankedas a key geometrical misdatingof the CorpusHermeticum Marsilio by
source became known too for his Cosmografia,Ficinoin 1464 and theintroduction cabalist of num-
brought a Greektextto Florence thebeginning ber theory Pico della Mirandolain 1486.34 The
as at by
of the fifteenth century. Alberti producedan accu- circle,the golden section,the rule of threes, of all
rately surveyedmap of Rome, Leonardo one of thempartand parcelof theintellectual practical and
Pavia. These were regardedas revelationsof the baggage of the Renaissance merchant,sailor,
rationalorder of created space produced by the surveyorand chartmaker, could be relatedto the
application of geometry. Perhaps more closely most erudite metaphysical speculation. Above all it
relatedto landscapepainting was thepiantaprospet- was the humanintellect, humanreason,thatcould
tiva,the bird'seye view of citieswhichbecame so apprehend thissignificance seek the certainties
and
popular at theturn thesixteenth
of century. Among of geometry. And the humanbody, createdin the
thebestknownof theseis Jacopode 'Barbari's 1500 imageand likeness God, replicated microcosm
of in
map of Venice,likeso manyof its typeas muchan the divineproportions, Leonardo'shumanfigure
as
ideological expression of urban dominion as an enclosed in divine geometrymakes clear. At the
accuraterendering the urbanscene.30The view- centreof Renaissancespace, the space reproduced
of
pointforthesemapsis, significantly, above the by perspective,was the human individual,the
high
city,distant,commanding, uninvolved. is thesame measureof his world and its temporal
It creatorand
perspective in
thatwe find Bruegel's Titian'sland- controller.
or Like God, the microcosm,man, also
scapes,panoramas over greatsweeps of earthspace, appears at the circumference Renaissancespace,
of
seas,mountains promontories.
and high above the globe, seeing it spread beforethe
Linearperspective organizesand controls on
spatial sphere of his eye in perspective the map, the
coordinates, and because it was founded in pianta prospettiva or thepanoramic landscape.
geometry it was regarded as the discovery of The authority attributed man35was exercised
to
inherent of In
properties space itself.3' this, perspec- in a hierarchy was at once spatialand social,a
that
tivehad a deepercultural as
significance, Pollaiuolo's hierarchy whichthelandscapeidea playeda signi-
in
bas-relief Prospettiva a nubilegoddess, sculp- ficant, subordinate
of as if to
role.Referring architecture,
ted on thetombofSixtusIV in 1493 might suggest. the 'queen of the arts',Alberti discussesthe decor-
One oftheearliest mostwidelyinfluential the ationsuitable different
and of to buildings:
Renaissance thinkers, Paduanhumanist
the Nicholas
of Cusa, theologian,cosmographer and mathema- Bothpaintings poetry
and vary kind. typethat
in The
tician,challengedthe Aristotelian scholasticworld portrays deedsof great
the men, of
worthy memory,
view in his De Docta Ignorantia 1440 by appeal
of differs that
from which the of
describes habits private
to theEuclidean citizens againfrom depicting lifeof the
and that the
geometry.32 Rejecting idea that
the
The in
which majestic character,
is should
there could be no empiricalknowledge of the peasants. first,
men confined the temporal,
to
be usedforpublic buildings thedwellings the
and of
spiritualsphereby whilethelastmentioned wouldbe suitable for
and thusno direct great,
knowledgeof God, Cusanuspro- gardens, itis themost
for pleasing all.Ourminds
of are
claimed the significance indirect
of evidence in a cheered beyondmeasure the sightof paintings,
by
neoplatonic sense. He pointed out that in the the
depicting delightful countryside, harbours, fishing,
infinitelylarge circlethe circumference tangent
and hunting, swimming, gamesof shepherds-flowers
the
coincidein a straight while the infinitely
line small andverdure.36
circlewas a point.This is the foundation a con-
of
tinuousgeometry relating Euclid'sseparateprop- The reference to the genres of paintingwhich
all is
ositionsand giving formsa qualitativeas well as replicatethose of poetry:fromthe most elevated,
quantitative character.33 Equally,it gave supportto storia (epic or historic events), to portraiture
Cusanus'argument a pattern
for running through all and domesticscenes,and finally least serious,
the

9. 52 DENIS COSGROVE
landscapes and rural scenes. Geographically, the importanceof perspectiveis in no doubt: 'for
centre of the city, where public buildings and Leonardo, as for Alberti,painting is a science
monuments adornthemainpiazza,is thesetting for because of its foundation mathematical
on perspec-
greatmenand shouldrecordtheir epic deeds. In the tive and on thestudy nature'.42
of Leonardohimself
urbanpalaces and privatehouses of the patriciate wrotethat
appear portraits and familygroups while in the
far
countryside, away from and subordinate the
to Amongall thestudies natural
of causesand reasons
powerat theheartof thecity, peasants-'beasts
the lightchieflydelights beholder-andamongthe
the
of the villa' -disport themselvesin their rude greatfeatures mathematics certainty itsdem-
of the of
manner, while gentlemen relax,followappropriate onstrationswhatpre-eminently to elevate
is tends the
and mind theinvestigator.
of Perspective therefore
must be
leisurelypursuits enjoy thebeautyof nature.37
In the theatre,whose auditorium preferred all thediscourses systems human
to and of
design, spatial learning.43
arrangements and stage sets were exercises in
applied geometryand perspective construction--
even cosmological theory38--this was Geometryis the source of the painter'screative
hierarchy
articulated the threeformsof drama.
for power, perspectiveits technicalexpression.For
carefully Leonardo,perspective 'transforms mindof the
the
Tragedywas playedagainstsettings theidealcity
of
intothelikeness thedivinemind, with
of for
and its monumental romancein the painter
architecture, a freehandhe can producedifferent beings,animals,
palaceinterior closedgarden, comedyor farce
or and
abysses and
in the sylvansettingof a rurallandscape.Control plants,fruits, landscapes,open fields,
fearfulplaces'.44Linearperspective the
provides cer-
and power radiatedown a socio-spatial hierarchy
taintyof our reproductions naturein art and
of
along the orthogonallines reachingout fromthe underlies the power and authority, the divine
piazza of an ideal city to transectrecognizably
distinct creativity theartist.
of
landscapetypes. Leonardo, despitethese comments and his map-
pingexperiments, is not remembered a landscape
as
LANDSCAPE, PERSPECTIVE AND REALIST painter,although his geographical contributions
SPACE wereby no meansmeagre.45 More interesting from
this point of view is the work of the Venetian
It is knownthatthefirst artist to
references specific
Christoforo Sortein thelaterRenaissance. Sortewas
as
paintings 'landscape'(paesaggio) come from early a cartographer and surveyor,employed by the
sixteenth-century Italy. One of the most often Venetian republicas one of the 'periti' or land
quoted is thatfrom1521 referring Giorgione's
to
and valuersof the Provveditori
surveyors sopra i
Tempesta.39 Kenneth
Both Clarkand J.B. Jackson,in
the
beni inculti, reclamation officewhichsupervised
of
discussions landscapein thisperiod,sense a rela-
marshland drainageand drylandirrigation the in
tionshipbetween the new genre and notions of secondhalf thesixteenth
of century. was a skilled
He
authority and control.Noting the appearance of
cartographer whose maps are regardedas being
'realist'landscapein upper Italy and Flanders, the
second mercantile core of early modern Europe, amongthefinest records theVenetian
of stateat this
time(Fig 5).46 Sorte was also a landscapepainter
Clark claims thatit reflected 'some change in the
who has leftus a remarkable treatise his art47 in
on
action of the humanmindwhichdemandeda new
theform a reply a letter
of to a
from Veronesenoble,
nexus of unity, enclosed space,' and suggeststhat
BartolomeoVitali,requesting information how
on
this was conditionedby a new, scientific way of Sortehad succeededin reproducing
thinking about the worldand an 'increased control
of nature man'.40Jackson
by refers a widespread
to of
the truegreenof the pastures, variety the
the
beliefthatthe relationship betweena social group of
flowers, range green
the of
plants, density the
the
and its landscapecould be so expertly controlled
as the of of
forests, transparencywater...thedistances
to make appropriate a comparison between perspectives.48
environmental bonds and family bonds,41 thereby
allowing landscape to become a means of moral The work that Vitali refers is sadly unknown.
to
commentary. Perspectivewas the central technique But fromtextual evidence it is clearly part-map
which allowedthiscontrol be achievedin thenew
to drawing: chorography plan and
part-landscape a in
paintings landscape.In Leonardo'swritings
of the perspectiveof the province of Verona, carefully

10. ..........
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Sorte:Map of Venetianboundaries Cadore (Venice,Archiviodi Stato,Provv. Cameradei Confin
FIGURE 5. Christoforo at

11. 54 DENISCOSGROVE
colouredand considered workof art.Sorte,in his dimensions, rather
a but exhilarated thepotencyof
by
reply, modestly refers himself merely practi- extension depth, controlled,
to as a in a axial entryintothe
cal man (un puroprattico) rather thana philosopher pictureplane achieved by linearperspective. This
or an artist. is a chorographer. his chorogra- is the achievement all the great landscapists,
He But ot
phy is securelybased in science.From Ptolemy's of Bruegel's and Titian's cosmic panoramas,of
Cosmographia has learnedhow to organizehis Giovanni Bellini's carefullylocated figuresand
he
mapaccording thefour
to cardinal points, he has modulatedbands of light and shade, of Claude's
and
'locatedthesaid chorography withits truerelations stage-likewings, coulisses and recessionalplanes
and distances themap'.49Once thesegeometrical along theaxis,and ofJ.M. W. Turner-himself
on Pro-
are
essentials completed can discussthecolouring fessorof Perspective the Royal Academy-who
he at
of the map. Colours are used partlyto avoid too once claimedthat'without aid ofperspective,
the all
manywords,partlyto producea representation arttotters itsveryfoundations'.52
of on
reality. Thus different shades of greenallows us to Perspective thenis critical landscapepainting,
to
recognize fertile infertile
and landsand forests. The and itis significant,beyondthescope of thispaper
if
carefuland observantuse of colour helps us to to explore in detail,how close are the historical
'createtheimageof a landscape(paese)on canvas in parallels betweenthegreatadvancesin perspective
gouache and accordingto perspective'. Indeed the geometry and innovations landscapeart.Alberti
in
textends witha discourse perspective, which wrotehis treatise the timeof Van Eyckand the
on of at
Sorte describes two methods, one theoretical earliest Italianlandscapists; Pelerin,who refined the
foundedin distanceand angle measurement a distancepoint construction 1505 was the con-
and in
second,morepractical, whichhe employsa mir- temporary Leonardoand Giorgione;
for of Vignolawho
rormarked witha graticule. Sorteperspective showed in 1535 thatPelerin
For is and Alberti's construc-
'the foundation painting'
of without whichnothing tionproducedthesame geometrical resultswroteat
can be paintedof any value.And thisskillof paint- the timeof Titian'sand Bruegel's maturity was
and
ing is itselffundamental theworkofthechorogra- published theproductive
to in years ofPaolo Veronese
pher:'niunapotra esser corografo, non sappia and JacopoBassano. The great advances of Pascal
che
o
disegnare dipingere'.50 and Desarguesin the 1630s in establishing con-the
The relationship between perspective and land- vergence parallel
of linesand showingtheir apparent
scape could scarcelybe more clear than in Sorte's visualconvergence be a necessary
to consequence of
textwherethe practical surveyor and topographer point, and surface
line definitions devoid ofEuclidian
offers of theearliest
one treatises theartofpaint- metrical assumptions,coincide with the Dutch
on
ing landscape. The early twentieth-century supremacy optics and its great school of land-
art in
historian Bernard Berenson agreedwithSorte.'Space scape. Geometrical continuity and new transform-
composition' wrote,is the 'bone and marrow
he of ational rules between geometrical forms are
theartof landscape'. Referring theearlyUmbrian propoundedin a treatise Ponceletwritten the
to by at
landscapists PietroPeruginoand Raphael,Berenson same timethat Constable and Turner wereexploring
claimedtheir triumph less in thesubtle
lay modelling light and atmospherein landscape in ways that
of atmosphereand elaborate study of light and implicitly challengedthe dominanceof linearper-
shade such as we findin the Venetiansthanin the spectiveforspace composition. Finally von Staudin
of
technique space composition. Although Berenson the 1840s eliminated metrical ideas from perspective
speaksofthisability composespaceas 'a structure geometry, revealing the possibility of a
to
of feeling' rather thana specific technique based on non-Euclidian space and n-dimensional construc-
sophisticated geometrical theory, is wellawareof tions.His workwas completed F. Kleinin 1875 a
he by
thatsense of powerand control over space thatthe little before modernists eliminated perspective from
spectator derivesfrom perspective
the organization space composition and at the same timeas the first
oflandscapepainting: patentswere taken out for modernphotographic
in such pictures, freely breathes-as a load printing
how one if techniques.53
hadjustbeenlifted from one'sbreast, how refreshed,
hownoble, potent feels.51
how one LANDSCAPE, PROSPECT AND VISUAL
IDEOLOGY
No longeris thespectator onlyby surface While it is not suggestedthat perspective
delighted stands
patternand the arrangement formsacross two alone as thebasis forrealism landscapepainting
of and

12. Evolutionthe
of landscapeidea 55
-the demandforii veroin Renaissanceart was a The Italianword forperspective prospettiva.
is It
complex social and cultural product54-it is argued combinessenses whichin modem Englishare dis-
that the realistillusionof space which was revol- tinct:'perspective' and 'prospect'. Perspective itself
utionized moreby perspective thanany othertech- has a number meanings English, as thepro-
of in but
nique was, throughperspective,aligned to the jectionofa spatialimageonto a planeitfirst appears
of
physicalappropriation space as property, ter- in the laterdecades of the sixteenth
or century. This
ritory. Surveyors' charts which located and usage is foundforexamplein John Dee's Preface to
measured individual estates, examplein England thefirst
for English translation Euclid
of (1570). Dee, the
afterthe dissolution monasteries;
of cartographers' Elizabethan mathematician, navigational instrument
maps whichused the graticule apportionglobal maker
to and magician, linksthisuse of perspective to
space, for example the line defined by Pope painting a classically
in renaissance way:
Alexander VI dividing the new world between
Portugaland Spain; engineers' plans forfortresses greatskill Geometrie,
of Arithmetik, Perspective and
and cannon trajectoriesto conquer or defend with
Anthropographie many otherparticular hath
arts
nationalterritory, forexampleVauban's French
as the Zographer need of for his perfection... This
work or Sorte's for the Venetiandefencesagainst mechanical Zographer (commonly called Painter)
the is
all marvelous his skil,
in and seemeth have a divine
to
Austria; of theseare examplesof the application
of geometry the production real property.55 power.
58
to of
They presuppose a different concept of space
ownership thanthe contingent conceptof a feudal Dee is writing theopeningofa decade whichwill
at
societywhereland is lockedintoa web of interde- see Saxton'scounty mapspublished whena new
and
pendent lordships based on fief fealty.
and The new 'image of the country' was being producedas an
chorographies which decorated the walls of six- aspect of Elizabethanpatriotism, using maps and
teenth-century councilhallsand signorial palaces,56 landscape representations instruments Tudor
as of
and the new taste for accuraterenderings the powerand nationalist
of ideology.59
externalworld whichgradually moved fromback- By 1605 we can find reference perspective a
to as
ground to mainsubjectmatter, werebothorganized form insight, pointofview,as in thephrase'get-
of a
by perspective geometry and achieve aesthetically tingsomething into perspective', seeing it in its
or
what maps, surveysand ordnancechartsachieve true light, correct
its relationship withotherthings.
practically. Landscapeis thusa way ofseeing, com- Many of the earlyreferences
a quoted in the Oxford
positionand structuring theworldso thatit may EnglishDictionary supportthe definition per-
of to of
be appropriated a detached,
by individualspectator spectiveas a drawingcontrived representto true
to whom an illusionof orderand controlis offered space and distancerelations refer landscapeand
to
the of
through composition space accordingto the gardenlayout.60 The visualideologyof perspective
certainties of geometry. That illusion very and of landscapeas ways of seeingnature, indeeda
frequently a
complemented very real power and trueway of seeing, certainly is current theEnglish
in
controlover fields and farms the partof patrons Renaissance.
on When we turn thewordprospect
to we
and ownersoflandscapepaintings."5 Landscape dis- find used to denotea view outward, lookingfor-
it a
tancesus from worldin critical
the a
ways,defining wardin timeas well as space. By theend of the six-
particular relationship with natureand those who teenthcenturyprospect carriedthe sense of 'an
appearin nature, offers theillusion a world extensiveor commanding
and us of sightor view, a view of
in whichwe may participate subjectively enter- the landscapeas affected one's position'.61
by by This
ing thepicture frame along theperspectival a
axis.But neatlyreflects period when commandover land
thisis an aesthetic entrance not an active engage- was being establishedon new commercially-run
mentwitha natureor space thathas its own life. estatesby Tudor enclosers and thenew landowners
in
Implicit the landscape idea is a visual ideology of measured monasticproperties. That command
whichwas extendedfrom painting our relation- was establishedwith the help of the surveyors'
to
shipwiththerealworldwhose 'frame compass' 'maliciouscraft',
and the geometrywhich wrote new
Elizabethans admired whichGeorgianEnglish perspectives
so and acrossreallandscapes.62
gentlemen would onlyapproachthrough langu-the By the mid-seventeenth century'prospect'had
age oflandscapepainting theopticaldistortion
or of become a substitute landscape. The command
for
theirClaude Glass. thatit impliedwas as much social and politicalas

13. 56 DENISCOSGROVE
li; .i:;::::~~i,:::--:::.11:-::j:::?:::::-
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. 1-~::~-:::-:-
:- :;~ _:::::.:_:::::::::::: IS
_::::::::1!
1:-i'~
KR ci:~:::-1:::-::::-lii j-::-:: i1~:-:ii:-:
W,:::--lilllii: :?' _-_ ?:_
:::ll::_:ii_::::i:::::.:::_
W l~ilii~
:---':--':-
- :::11
:'ill-::-'':i- ~~-~'-~: .
r--::::::::::- :_: ..?::-:::
:::-::::
O i~iili:~~i~.....
:::::-::::-::----
l~li:-::1':-.:
:::::~?~?~lllii~ii~:':::::-
:'1I1 :::::::::::::::
= I-~'::-?::::::::::: i~i~ii~iiiiiiFilll ll:
jn ---:,:-'::.'?-::'--i-li'i-'il~i-iil~l~ ii~l--l
i~l..-::
::-':::~:.i
:---:~l~-i:~~:-.i
:i~~l....... :::::;:-::::::
.
:5,5!2,
;l:-:
:-:- i-i~-!~ ::::i~-:l~~:~:--r-:--
::~-:~~i:~: ~j,~
on:::::-:::-r_:-.-~ :--:?::~:::--:-. ~--
,-:,~l::~::-::R ~lii-:~-:-lii:-: :i::::;:_i-:--::::Mr.
----::::?::j:::------_:::i:-
:::-
::::-::::~_::::?::::::::::?:_~ :
-l~~:-:----:-l_?--:::::_-:~-
::--::::-x-::..........
-li.
i-i:~--:: .....::--
FIGURE 6. Roushamgarden,Oxfordshire. BowlingGreen:a Claudianlandscapeby WilliamKent
The
spatial. Commanding views are the theme of ing a fineview. The prospect theeye was equally
of
countryhouse painting,poetry and landscaping commercial, suchwoodland in thelandscapewas an
throughout the seventeenthand eighteenthcen- economicinvestment. represented
It prospecting in
turies(Fig 6), and a numberof recentstudieshave wood, as thosewho scouredthelandscapein thefol-
revealed the degree to which landscape was a lowingcentury seeking gold would be described.64
vehicle for social and moral debate during this
period.63The prospectsdesignedformen like the LANDSCAPE AND THE HUMANIST
Duke of Marlborough Blenheim
at who had made
theirfortunes TRADITION IN GEOGRAPHY
fromwar had an appropriately mili-
tary character their
in blocksofwoodlandsetagainst Landscapecomes into Englishlanguagegeography
shavenlawns.Thisno doubtreinforced imageof
the primarily fromthe German landschaft. Much has
powerand authority, leastforthosewho wielded
at been written about the factthatthe Germanword
it. The surveyskillswhich calculatedand laid out means area, withoutany particularly aestheticor
these landscapesproducedfortification plans, ord- artistic, even visual connotations.65
or My own
nance charts and campaignmaps as well as serving knowledgeof Germanusage is too meagreto con-
of
therequirements theparliamentary enclosers. is
It test thisclaim,but some comment warranted.
is In
not surprising in hiscritique emparkment
that of and Humboldt'sKosmos, regardedby many as one of
landscapingOliver Goldsmithin The Deserted Vil- the two pillarsupon whichGerman geography was
lage should describe the park that has replaced a
erected, whole sectionis devotedto thehistory of
Sweet Auburn in military metaphors:'its vistas the love of landscapeand natureup to the timeof
its In
strike, palaces surprise'. those great English Goethe whom Humboldtgreatly reveredand who
landscape parks prospectalso signified future.
the was a major visual theorist.66Englishgeographers
Control was as much temporalas spatial. Their could have takentheir landscapeconceptfrom John
clumpsof oak and beech would not be seen in full Ruskinand discovereda usage not very different
maturity by those who had them planted, but from Humboldt's.67 More directly, in
Landschaft the
of
security property ensuredforlaterscions of the workof Hettner and Passarge,themainsourcesfor
family theprospect inheritance command-
tree on of Englishlanguage geographerslike Carl Sauer and