Capriccio. In painting, a capriccio means an architectural fantasy, placing together buildings, archaeological ruins and other architectural elements in fictional and often fantastical combinations.
These paintings may also include staffage. Capriccio falls under the more general term of landscape painting.
The term is also used for other artworks with an element of fantasy. This style of painting was introduced in the Renaissance and continued into the Baroque.
There are several etymologies that have been put forward for capriccio, one of which being derived from the Italian word capretto which roughly translates to the unpredictable movement and behavior from a young goat. This etymology suggests that the art style is unpredictable and as open as the imagination can make it. Filippo Baldinucci defined capriccio as a dreamlike interpretation of the subject of a work that comes from a free imagination.
Capriccio works often surround architecture that has been changed with pieces of a view that has taken artistic liberty into account. Capriccio often takes existing structures and places them into re-imagined settings and characteristics. The paintings can be anything from re-imagining a building in the future as ruins, to placing a structure in a completely different setting than that in which it exists in reality. The subjects of capriccio paintings cannot be taken as an accurate depictio
These paintings may also include staffage. Capriccio falls under the more general term of landscape painting.
The term is also used for other artworks with an element of fantasy. This style of painting was introduced in the Renaissance and continued into the Baroque.
There are several etymologies that have been put forward for capriccio, one of which being derived from the Italian word capretto which roughly translates to the unpredictable movement and behavior from a young goat. This etymology suggests that the art style is unpredictable and as open as the imagination can make it. Filippo Baldinucci defined capriccio as a dreamlike interpretation of the subject of a work that comes from a free imagination.
Capriccio works often surround architecture that has been changed with pieces of a view that has taken artistic liberty into account. Capriccio often takes existing structures and places them into re-imagined settings and characteristics. The paintings can be anything from re-imagining a building in the future as ruins, to placing a structure in a completely different setting than that in which it exists in reality. The subjects of capriccio paintings cannot be taken as an accurate depictio
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