View on the River Wye

This celebrated view is the epitome of the picturesque, a concept that equated Nature and Art. Such scenes were evocative of 17th-century landscape painting, hence “picture-like.” The appeal of such places – real or imagined – lay in their untamed beauty, as if Nature had designed the scene for our pleasure. The composition emphasizes the thrilling sight: floating above the figures, we can scan the entire vista at once. Frame: moulded ornament over wooden substructure, gilded. Britain, first half 19th century