Paesaggisti

Paesaggisti is the plural form of paesaggista, a term used in Italian art history to designate painters whose principal subject is landscape. The designation covers artists who treat nature—mountains, rivers, skies, gardens—as an autonomous genre, as well as those who integrate landscapes with mythological, biblical, or historical subjects. The label is often applied to a broad range of practitioners across different Italian regions and periods.

The concept developed from the late Renaissance into the Baroque, with influences flowing between Italian, French, and Dutch traditions. In Italy, paesaggisti helped elevate landscape from a secondary backdrop to a primary concern, producing idealized classical landscapes, studies of topography, and capricci that combined ruins, pastoral scenes, and imaginative scenery. Their idioms frequently include atmospheric light, panoramic composition, and rhythmic landscape forms, sometimes with figures included mainly for scale rather than narrative purpose.

Techniques characteristic of paesaggisti emphasize light, air, and mood. Many works balance natural observation with an artistic ideal, ranging from serene, timeless landscapes inspired by Claude Lorrain to more dramatic or naturalistic views influenced by contemporary currents. Some artists produced vedute or capricci that later influenced urban and architectural landscape traditions.

Legacy and influence: paesaggisti contributed to the maturation of landscape painting as a distinct genre in Italy and Europe, laying groundwork for subsequent veduta, topographic, and plein air approaches. The term remains a general label for a wide range of Italian landscape painters from the 17th through the 19th centuries and beyond.