Glossary

Picturesque

Picturesque

An aesthetic category accorded to pictures that have an agreeable and appealing visual quality, and is particularly used for idealised depictions of landscapes that also incorporate elements of wildness and natural irregularity. It was theoretically developed by writers William Gilpin and Uvedale Price in the late-eighteenth century, and prominent artists working in the mode include Philip James De Loutherbourg, Thomas Gainsborough and Joseph Mallord William Turner.

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