Cityscape. In the visual arts a cityscape is an artistic representation, such as a painting, drawing, print or photograph, of the physical aspects of a city or urban area.
It is the urban equivalent of a landscape. Townscape is roughly synonymous with cityscape, though it implies the same difference in urban size and density implicit in the difference between the words city and town.
In urban design the terms refer to the configuration of built forms and interstitial space. From the first century A.D.
dates a fresco at the Baths of Trajan in Rome depicting a bird's eye view of an ancient city. In the Middle Ages, cityscapes appeared as a background for portraits and biblical themes.
From the 16th up to the 18th century numerous copperplate prints and etchings were made showing cities in bird's eye view. The function of these prints was to provide a map-like overview. Halfway through the 17th century the cityscape became an independent genre in the Netherlands. In his famous View of Delft in 1660-1661 Jan Vermeer painted a quite accurate portrait of the city Delft. Cities like Amsterdam, Haarlem and The Hague also became popular subjects for paintings. Painters from other European countries followed the Dutch example. The 18th century was a flourishing period for cityscape painting in Venice. At the end of the 19th century the impressionists focused on the atmosphere and dynamics of everyd