When talking to people about Landscape Art, or rather when people ask me what kind of art I most like to produce and I answer "Landscapes," I am almost always met with a half-smile and a glazed look in their eyes I think this is probably because a lot of people who don't really appreciate or study art forms believe landscape art to be boring and dull, and a bit of a 'safe' option. As this beautiful book will loudly declare, this is not the case at all, and the originality, variety and skill shown here will certainly change their point of view Landscape Art generally is art that depicts an area of land - makes sense doesn't it? But that isn't all - far from it. It can include landforms such as mountains, hills, rivers, lakes and the sea, as well as trees and other plants and flowers - but it can also include vehicles, buildings and structures such as bridges. As well as Landscape Art depicting nature in its most beautiful and dramatic form, it can be a pleasing background for people and animals, as well as buildings, and indeed this was the case for centuries when Western artists only put landscapes in the background of their portraits or still life compositions, or as a setting for human activity, with an historical or religious message. Landscape Art wasn't really taken seriously in the West until the 16th Century, after the era of Renaissance Art, unlike Chinese art which included Landscape Art as an established genre by the fourth century. Landscape painting did not really come into its own until the seventeenth century with the rise of the Dutch and Flemish schools. But I think it wasn't really until the 19th Century that Landscape Art really became widely appreciated. TheNorwich School of landscape painters(active c.1803-1830s), founded by John Crome(1768-1821) andJohn Sell Cotman(1782-1842), extended the Dutch Luminist tradition and produced landscapes, coastal and marine scenes from around Norfolk. Meanwhile, JMW Turner(1775-1851), England's greatest and most original landscape painter, had arrived on the scene. Awatercolouristuntil 1796, he became in 1802 the youngest ever full member of London's Royal Academy. Landscape Art in the 21st Century is very different to how it used to be in the time of the Old Masters. We now have such diversity of Landscape Art to suit all individual tastes, from Fine Art, Digital Art, Photographic Art, Impressionist Art, Abstract Art and Naive Art to Surrealism and many other art forms. An absolute feast How very glad I am that Landscape Art is now so widely acclaimed and recognised as a major contribution to the overall art scene. Landscape Art can be uplifting and soothing to the soul, and in this wonderful book, you will see just how beautiful, and diverse, Landscape Art really is. Look, Absorb, Read, but most of all Enjoy "