Overview

The Picturesque is an aesthetic ideal introduced in the late 18th century, primarily in Britain. It defines a type of beauty found in landscapes (both real and painted) that is characterized by roughness, irregularity, and variety. It was positioned as a middle ground between Edmund Burke’s concepts of the Beautiful (associated with smoothness, smallness, and gentleness) and the Sublime (associated with vastness, terror, and power).

Core Idea

The central idea of the Picturesque is that nature should look like a picture—specifically, like the landscape paintings of artists such as Claude Lorrain or Nicolas Poussin. It values texture, intricacy, and a “studied negligence.” A picturesque landscape is not perfectly manicured (which would be “Beautiful”) nor terrifyingly wild (which would be “Sublime”), but rather interestingly rugged and varied.

Formal Definition

William Gilpin, who popularized the term, defined the Picturesque simply as “that kind of beauty which is agreeable in a picture.” Uvedale Price later elaborated that the Picturesque is distinguished by “roughness and sudden variation,” joined to irregularity. It emphasizes the visual qualities of light and shadow, texture, and composition.

Intuition

Imagine a well-maintained, symmetrical garden with smooth lawns and trimmed hedges. That is “Beautiful.” Now imagine a massive, dark thunderstorm over a jagged mountain peak. That is “Sublime.” Now imagine an old, crumbling cottage with ivy growing on it, a winding dirt path, and a gnarled oak tree with textured bark. That is “Picturesque.” It is visually interesting, full of detail and character, and invites the eye to wander.

Examples

  • English Landscape Gardens: The gardens at Stourhead or Blenheim Palace were designed to look “natural” and picturesque, with winding paths, artificial ruins, and carefully placed clumps of trees.
  • Ruins: A crumbling castle or abbey is a quintessential picturesque object. It shows the passage of time, adds texture, and breaks up the horizon.
  • Travel Tourism: The “Picturesque Tour” became a popular activity in the 18th century, where travelers would visit specific spots (like the Lake District or the Wye Valley) to view the scenery through a “Claude glass” (a tinted mirror) to frame it like a painting.

Common Misconceptions

  • It means “pretty”: In modern usage, “picturesque” just means “charming” or “scenic.” In aesthetic theory, it is a specific technical term with rules about roughness and irregularity.
  • It is natural: The Picturesque is highly constructed. Landowners would move hills, dam rivers, and even hire hermits to live in their gardens to achieve the “natural” picturesque look.
  • The Sublime: The aesthetic of awe and terror. The Picturesque domesticates nature compared to the Sublime.
  • Beauty: The aesthetic of perfection and smoothness. The Picturesque challenges the classical idea that only the perfect is beautiful.
  • Romanticism: The Picturesque was a precursor to Romanticism, shifting focus to individual emotional response and the appreciation of untamed (or seemingly untamed) nature.

Applications

  • Landscape Architecture: The principles of the Picturesque (winding paths, asymmetry, surprise reveals) are foundational to modern landscape design and park planning (e.g., Central Park in NY).
  • Urban Planning: The “Townscape” movement in the 20th century applied picturesque principles to city planning, advocating for variety and visual interest over rigid grids.
  • Photography: The rule of thirds and the framing of landscapes in photography often rely on picturesque conventions of composition.

Criticism / Limitations

  • Superficiality: Critics like John Ruskin argued that the Picturesque prioritized surface aesthetic effects over the moral or true nature of the subject (e.g., admiring a crumbling cottage while ignoring the poverty of the people living in it).
  • Formulaic: The search for the Picturesque became so codified that it became a cliché, with tourists mechanically checking off “views” rather than genuinely experiencing nature.

Further Reading

  • Gilpin, William. Three Essays: On Picturesque Beauty; on Picturesque Travel; and on Sketching Landscape. 1792.
  • Price, Uvedale. An Essay on the Picturesque. 1794.
  • Hussey, Christopher. The Picturesque: Studies in a Point of View. 1927.