76 LANDSCAPE PAINTING 



they recognise the representation of a real district ; viz. the 

 small volcanic group of the ^Eolian or Lipari islands, north 

 of Sicily^ 08 ). 



Perspective scene painting, which was made to contribute 

 to the theatrical representation of the master-works of 

 jEschylus and Sophocles, gradually extended this depart- 

 ment of art( 109 ), by increasing a demand for the illusive 

 imitation of inanimate objects, such as buildings, trees, 

 and rocks. In consequence of the improvement which 

 followed this extension, landscape painting passed with the 

 Greeks and Romans from the theatre into halls adorned 

 with columns, where long surfaces of wall were covered, at 

 first with more restricted scenes ( 110 ), but afterwards with 

 extensive views of cities, sea-shores, and wide pastures with 

 grazing herds of cattle ( U1 ). These pleasing decorations 

 were not, indeed, invented by the Roman painter, Ludius, 

 in the Augustan age, but were rendered generally popu- 

 lar ( 112 ) by him, and enlivened by the introduction of small 

 figures ( 113 ). Almost at the same period, and even half a 

 century earlier, amongst the Indians, in the brilliant epoch 

 of Yikramaditya, we find landscape painting referred to as a 

 much practised art. In the charming drama of " Sacontala," 

 the king, Dushmanta, has tl picture of his beloved shewn 

 him; but not satisfied with her portrait only, he desires 

 that "the paintress should draw the places which Sacon- 

 tala most loved : the Malini river, with a sandbank on 

 which the red flamingoes are standing; a chain of lulls, 

 which rest against the Himalaya, and gazelles reposing on 

 the hills." These are no small requisitions : they indicate 

 a belief, at least, in the possibility of executing complicated 

 representations. 



