Landscape originates from the Dutch landschap. Even though the type of painting had been around before, it was the Dutch who popularised the genre in the 1500s. Perhaps it was Joachim Patinir who could be termed the European grandfather of this type of work. Even though there are only 5 paintings which are unequivocally attributed to him, he really revolutionized scenery painting.
However, the word comes into English is a very roundabout fashion. The first two references are in translations. One is extremely relevant, Richard Haydocke’s translation entitled G. P. Lomazzo’s Tracte containing the art of curious painting which came out in 1598. Lomazzo was an Italian artist who went blind at a relatively early age and then focused on art theory and refers to an artist who painted landscapes.
Shortly afterwards the word appears in English in yet another a translation called Bartas: His divine weeks and work. Regular readers may remember Du Bartas as the Frenchman who wrote about creation (cf. anorexia) and who influenced John Milton. The translator Joshua Sylvester describes God as looking at his works, “like a cunning painter” who has created a landscape and is happy with it.
At almost the same time, in one of his first plays the great British playwright Ben Jonson describes a stage landscape as having woods, with a space for hunting, and an artificial lake.
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