The Development of the Feeling for Nature in the Middle Ages and Modern Times (Classic Reprint) - Hardcover

Alfred Biese

Hardcover

ISBN 10: 0265683750 ISBN 13: 9780265683750

Publisher: Forgotten Books, 2018

Synopsis

A thoughtful survey of how nature has shaped culture, taste, and art from the Middle Ages to modern times.

In this scholarly yet accessible study, Alfred Biese traces the growth of our feeling for nature. It links landscape, painting, and poetry to the changing ways people lived with the natural world. The book examines how science, religion, and art influenced our sense of beauty and the environment across centuries.

Starting with medieval roots, it follows a long arc through the Renaissance, the Dutch landscape tradition, and beyond. The author shows how landscape became a central subject in painting, not just a backdrop, and how key artists and settings reflected evolving attitudes toward nature. The discussion blends cultural history with insights into landscape painting, landscape imagination, and the role of literature in shaping perception.

• How landscape perception developed across major historical periods
• Connections between nature, art, and literature as sources of meaning
• Profiles of artists and how their work reflected changing ideas about nature
• The shift from nature as background to nature as the primary focus of painting

Ideal for readers of art history, cultural history, and the study of how humans have related to the natural world over time.

Edition details

• Publisher: Forgotten Books
• Publication date: 2018
• Language: English
• ISBN 10: 0265683750
• ISBN 13: 9780265683750
• Binding: Hardcover
• Number of pages: 388