Painting Challenges Architecture for Control of Landscape Design

Painting or architecture – which genre is the model for landscape design? The European garden theoreticians of the 18th century debated this question. In this etching by Pierre-François Laurent, painting on the left (represented by the paint palet and brush beside her left hand) and architecture on the right (the tools of architecture – compass and ruler – are at her feet) are competing for control over landscape design. The depiction is included in Les jardins, ou l'art d'embellir les paysages by Jacques Delille.

Painting challenges architecture for control of landscape design, etching by Pierre-François Laurent (1739–1809) from Charles-Nicolas Cochin (1715–1790); image source: Delille, Jacques: Les jardins, ou l'art d'embellir les paysages, Paris 1782