Cityscape
A fresco at the Baths of Trajan in Rome, from the first century A.D., is one of the earliest known cityscapes. It shows an ancient city from above, every street and building spread out as if seen from a great height. A cityscape is any artistic representation of a city's physical face: a painting, drawing, print, or photograph.
In the Middle Ages, European painters placed city views behind the figures in portraits and religious scenes. The city was a backdrop, not the subject. Copperplate engravers from the 16th through the 18th centuries produced elaborate bird's eye images of cities, valued more as geographic overviews than as art.
In ancient China, scroll painters had already taken a very different approach. Works like Along the River During the Qingming Festival offered panoramic views of city life, with no saint or noble required to carry the scene. European painters were approaching that same threshold.
Halfway through the 17th century, the cityscape became a recognized independent genre in the Netherlands. Jan Vermeer's famous View of Delft, completed around 1660-1661, stands as a quite accurate portrait of the city. Vermeer gave the urban scene the sustained attention that painters typically reserved for human subjects. Amsterdam, Haarlem, and The Hague attracted painters who found the Dutch cityscape rich enough to stand on its own.
Painters in Great Britain, France, and Germany followed the Dutch example. In Venice, the 18th century was a flourishing period for the genre. Canaletto and Francesco Guardi both worked extensively in the city, recording its canals, squares, and facades.
By the close of the 18th century, the cityscape had established itself across much of Europe. Suburban areas, building sites, and railway yards had not yet entered the picture. A new generation of painters was about to insist that they should.
At the end of the 19th century, the impressionists turned the cityscape toward new terrain. Their focus was the atmosphere and dynamics of everyday life in the city. Suburban areas, industrial districts, building sites, and railway yards entered the genre as subjects. These were working spaces that the earlier tradition had largely passed over.
Abstract and conceptual art would come to dominate the 20th century. As that shift took hold, the production of cityscapes declined along with figurative painting more broadly.
Edward Hopper stayed loyal to figurative painting and produced what have been described as intriguing images of the American scene. His work kept the genre present during decades when it received little critical attention.
At the end of the 20th century, figurative art regained standing, and the cityscape was reappraised alongside it. Rackstraw Downes, Antonio Lopez Garcia, and Richard Estes are among the well-known living painters currently working in the genre. Yvonne Jacquette has developed a specialty in aerial cityscapes. The photographers who have worked in the tradition range from Eugene Atget and Berenice Abbott to Henri Cartier-Bresson and Andre Kertesz.
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Common questions
What is a cityscape in art?
A cityscape is an artistic representation of the physical aspects of a city or urban area, including paintings, drawings, prints, and photographs. It is the urban equivalent of a landscape. The term townscape is roughly synonymous, though it implies a smaller or less dense urban setting.
What is the oldest known cityscape artwork?
One of the oldest known cityscapes is a fresco at the Baths of Trajan in Rome, dating from the first century A.D. It depicts a bird's eye view of an ancient city and is among the earliest examples of the form on record.
When did Jan Vermeer paint the View of Delft?
Jan Vermeer painted the View of Delft around 1660-1661. It is described as a quite accurate portrait of the city of Delft and is one of the most famous works produced when the cityscape became an independent genre in the Netherlands.
When did the cityscape become an independent genre in European painting?
The cityscape became a recognized independent genre halfway through the 17th century in the Netherlands. Before that point, city views appeared mainly as backgrounds in portraits and religious paintings rather than as subjects in their own right.
What subjects did impressionist painters bring into the cityscape genre?
At the end of the 19th century, impressionist painters expanded the cityscape to include suburban areas, industrial districts, building sites, and railway yards. Their focus was the atmosphere and dynamics of everyday urban life, rather than formal architectural subjects.
Who are some well-known contemporary cityscape painters?
Well-known living cityscape painters include Rackstraw Downes, Antonio Lopez Garcia, and Richard Estes. Yvonne Jacquette is also notable for specializing in aerial cityscapes. These painters came to renewed attention with a revival of figurative art at the end of the 20th century.
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2 references cited across the entry
- 1Eugenio la Rocca: "The Newly Discovered City Fresco from Trajan's Baths, Rome." Imago Mundi Vol. 53 (2001), pp. 121–124.