Painting underwent a revolution during the course of the 16th century. New genres, including landscapes, took the art world by storm and flowed into the collections of rich patricians, traders and the nobility. Landscape served as background subject-matter for biblical and mythological scenes, but painters started to express themselves with the new genre in the creation of endless variations on townscapes, mountainscapes, panoramas, depictions of hell and seascapes.

One of the pioneers of Flemish landscape painting was Joachim Patinir. Pieter Bruegel the Elder was painting ‘world landscapes’ around the middle of the 16th century. In the 17th century, Rubens refocused attention on the landscape with his penchant for the countryside, his panoramic views and the rich diversity of colour on his palette.

The exhibition is made up of loans from the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister Dresden, which will itself be devoting a major exhibition to this subject in the autumn of 2016, together with landscapes from the KMSKA and the Rockox House.