The Iconography of Landscape

INTRODUCTION (Stephen Daniels and Denis Cosgrove)

iconography – interpreting levels of meaning in human artefacts – the theoretical and historical study of symbolic imagery 

“A landscape is a cultural image” p1

“A landscape park is more palpable but no more real, nor less imaginary, than a landscape painting or poem” (Cosgrove & Daniels, 1988:1).

Iconography in art history seeks to conceptualise pictures as encoded texts to be deciphered by those cognisant of the culture as a whole in which they are produced” (Cosgrove & Daniels, 1988:2)

Middle Ages – nature represented as an illuminated text

Mitchell (Cosgrove & Daniels, 1988:6) “The quintessential modern experience of this new ‘book of nature’ is the stroll through the scenic wonders of a national park with a plastic earphone that responds to electronic triggers embedded at strategic locations along the path”

Berger’s discussion in Ways of Seeing of Gainsborough’s Mr and Mrs. Andrew’s shows “the ideology of representation in English eighteenth-century landscape art serving to naturalise, and hence to mystify, basic property relations” (Cosgrove & Daniels, 1988:7)

“The very idea of landscape implies separation and observation” (Cosgrove & Daniels, 1988:7) quoting Williams p120 contrast with Macfarlane: “‘landscape’ is not something to be viewed and appraised from a distance, as it were … a canvas in a frame. It is not the passive object of our gaze, but rather a volatile participant … I prefer to think of the word as a noun containing a hidden verb” (Robert Macfarlane, The Old Ways, p. 255)

“the substance of landscape so influencing mind that mind’s own substance was altered” (Robert Macfarlane, The Old Ways, p75) could also be of use here

ART AND AGRARIAN CHANGE (Hugh Prince)

Prince attributes the lack of agrarian change in eighteenth century painting (picturesque, sublime, romantic) to artistic fashion, patron’s preferences and nostalgia.  Williams and Tree have already discussed nostalgia. Interestingly Prince feels there is much evidence of change in literature although Williams notable thesis presents a contrary case – evidence can be chosen accordingly. A client-driven model is I think worthy of consideration.  The majority of these clients were wealthy landowners for whom farming was a business transaction not a display. The author suggests that for these landowners agrarian change as a step back to the Golden Age (more productive land for less effort). Note that Williams suggests that those doing the hard labour also look forward in retrospect, to a more communal (by which he also means equitable) life. “Up and coming middle-class patrons preferred easily intelligible picturesque views” (Cosgrove & Daniels, 1988:107)

There is the further interesting point that “agrarian change was subsumed within a time-scale so long that only the most enduring and unchanging elements were regarded as significant” (Cosgrove & Daniels, 1988:116). Again we have the thorny issue of time and how human time frames are out of step with environmental issues.

I was unsure of the usefulness of the detailed analysis – paintings can be picked and meaning attributed according to the theme of the writer. Prince states that he looks at the iconography over the empirical detail since the latter is lacking. The main point seems to be that they either avoid details of agrarian labour and change or in some way subsume them within a greater message…

Prince examines several paintings, stating the the hay making scene at Dixton Manor (artist unknown c1710-20) is a rare example of agricultural activity although the organisation of the frame, by artist unknown, presents a kind of communal happiness of much of the village organised by the Squire.  The prospect is also unusual, a bird’s eye view from an elevate point several hundred yards from the scene and almost topographical or map like.

He compares this with the much analysed Gainsborough image of mr. And Mrs Andrew’s, pointing out that the painter never executed another like it, preferring to exclude agricultural elements and gradually shifting to a wilder landscape.

By contrast again Prince looks at Richard Williams’ Arcadian view of The Thames at Twickenham, from which all vestiges of agriculture or habitation have been removed with the exception of Marble Hill House.

Prince then considers Turner’s Ploughing up Turnips near Slough, 1809 – in the middle of the Napoleonic Wars, he points out that this can be seen as heroic agriculture for King and Country, shrouded in mist with Windsor Castle behind the obvious drudgery of the labour is lifted beyond the commonplace.

Constable’s Ploughing Scene in Suffolk, 1824, by contrast is flat and open, almost tedious, the two workers made small by the vast landscape.  The toil with nature is clear to see, although the analysis suggests this should be seen within the time-honoured tradition of working the land rather than any change in land management.

Finally George Lewis’ Hereford from Haywood Lodge, 1815, celebrates a Georgical ideal “a landscape in which the fertility of the soil and the efforts of the cultivator United to yield a good harvest and a measure of satisfaction to the harvesters” (Cosgrove & Daniels, 1988:113)

Many of the other essays in this collection, although superficially connected to the topic, did not on a quick scan seem to include much that I could use. However the following might be worth investigating further …

THE GEOMETRY OF LANDSCAPE

MAPS, KNOWLEDGE AND POWER

BIBLIOGRAPHY

1. Cosgrove, D. & Daniels, S. (1988). The iconography of landscape. Cambridge: Cambridge University Press