The Development of Landscape Painting Between the Late Gothic Period and the Early Renaissance

Plaisance, Diana (2025) The Development of Landscape Painting Between the Late Gothic Period and the Early Renaissance. Masters thesis, University of Wales Trinity Saint David.

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Abstract

This dissertation identifies several foundational advances that were instrumental in the emergence of early Renaissance landscape painting, a development that began to take shape between the late fourteenth through the fifteenth centuries. The purpose is to discover what the primary factors were that led to the inception of this new form of artistic expression. This objective is accomplished through an examination of the stylistic and formal changes, new advancements in materials and technical innovations, and various aspects of the cultural environment. The present study also seeks to understand how artistic exchange between Italian and Northern painters affected the development of painting landscapes. The research shows that the realistic rendering of natural objects and environments was the necessary initial phase of the development. The impulse to look to nature occurred first in Italy, and was based on the need for empirical illustrations for practical texts. In the North, East Anglian and French illuminations demonstrate that naturalistic art quickly became an important aspect of the Gothic aesthetic, and it was integrated into religious texts purely for artistic purposes. Northern manuscript painters were the first to develop a range of techniques for using light and colour to portray realistic natural environments, and Italian painters emulated these techniques to imbue their landscapes with a specific mood or emotion. For inspiration, artists in Italy and the North drew on both classical pastoral landscapes and the medieval concept of gardens of paradise. By tracing these developments, it becomes clear that the exchange of ideas and methods between Italian and Gothic painters, particularly among manuscript illuminators and miniaturists, was a crucial factor in the development of postclassical European landscape painting.

Item Type:	Thesis (Masters)
Subjects:	D History General and Old World > DG Italy N Fine Arts > ND Painting
Divisions:	Theses and Dissertations > Masters Dissertations
Depositing User:	Victoria Hankinson
Date Deposited:	20 Feb 2026 10:36
Last Modified:	20 Feb 2026 10:36
URI:	https://repository.uwtsd.ac.uk/id/eprint/4123

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