Published online by Cambridge University Press: 05 January 2009
Lemaire's reflections on the concept of landscape struck a chord with me, and I found myself nodding in agreement with much of what he has to say. I did, however, have some difficulty in coming to terms with the idea that the landscape is wholly an invention of bourgeois sensibility. Moreover, in his emphasis on the landscape as an object of contemplation, ‘totalized by a human gaze’, I feel that he neglects the activity of depiction – whether this be painting, drawing, writing or musical composition – in favour of the end products, finished works. I should like to focus my comment on these two points.