Painted Landscapes - Andrew Brandenburger

From this eastern viewpoint, one was able get a great overlook of Poland's capital, Warsaw. Bernardo Bellotto did an excellent job of capturing this viewpoint on canvas. The painting depicts the residents going about their daily lives in the middle of the day in the capital. The artist used great character proportions and a vanishing point to create depth that allows you to feel that you are overlooking the actual city.

I liked this painting because the author didn't have an actual structure to go off of. Pieter Bruegel had to use his imagination when painting the biblical Tower of Babel. The tower is represented as incomplete, yet still large enough to tower above the clouds. Pieter uses large ships to express how massive the tower actually is.

This painting immediately caught my attention because of the stunning detail of this beautiful landscape found in the Rocky Mountains. The image displays a cloudy day in the Rockies with the sun trying to peek through to light up a waterfall dumping into the river below. The highlights as well as the shading create highly detailed depiction of this Wyoming scene.

From the outskirts of the city, Scotland's capital, Endinburgh, can be viewed as being surrounded by beautiful scenery. The location chosen by Alexander Nasmyth shows some people hanging out or possibly fishing by the calm river found in the woods. Found on the opposite side of the city are mountains

Surrounded by mountains and trees, a lake house can be found in Abraham Pether's painting. Some animals can be seen near the house implying it could be a farm of some kind. The lack of heavy ripples and the clear reflection of the house on the water give the impression that the weather is calm while the orange tint gives it a feeling of warmth.

What would a gallery of landscapes be without a painting of Yellowstone National Park? Thomas Moran chose the Grand Canyon of Yellowstone as the location of his painting. The mountains are structured so that it creates a vast canyon. A waterfall at the back dumping into the valley creates a river below. Thomas uses two small characters towards the front to proportionally show how massive the canyon truly is.

As the name indicates, Meindert Hobbema's painting depicts travelers passing through a small settlement. The settlement is placed in the woods with a path that leads away to a blue background which could imply that the travelers are making their way to a body of water. There is no lack of detail in the painted trees that dominate this beautiful image.

Although I found the oval shape of the image to be a bit odd, I still could not help but to gaze in amazement at the landscape created by Nelson-Atkins. The scene depicts a mill next to a river in the woods that flows into a lake bordered by mountains. Casted by the sunset, the painting is filled with a wide array of yellows and greens.

Who doesn't enjoy a nice sunset? The colors casted by the sun creates it's own art in the sky. William Keith captured that beauty perfectly in his painting. It displays a mountain range with a valley below and the sun setting on the horizon. The colors used give you that same sense of awe when viewing a real sunset. He also made most of the objects in the painting a very dark silhouette just as it would be if the sun was behind the object you were looking at.

A winding river passing through the woods sets the tone for Markó Károly's painting. With the sun soon setting, the fishermen can be seen docking as they finish their day of fishing. The vibrant yellow rays from the sun light up the scene beautifully. The scene is painted excellently from this breath-taking point of view

I know I only needed 10 for the assignment, but I couldn't leave out the painting that inspired this gallery. Albert Bierstadt's "Emigrants Crossing the Plains" displays a wide variety of characters and scenery with from mountains to trees, horses to cows, and of course the settlers themselves. In the background, there even appears to be teepees from the natives. The yellows, oranges and reds casted by the sun onto the clouds gives that same sense of awe that you feel when experiencing a real sunset.