From what motives springs the love of high-minded men for landscapes? In
his very nature man loves to be in a garden with hills and streams,
whose water makes cheerful music as it glides among the stones. What a
delight does one derive from such sights as that of a fisherman
engaging in his leisurely occupation in a sequestered nook, or of a
woodman felling a tree in a secluded spot, or of mountain scenery with
sporting monkeys and cranes!... Though impatient to enjoy a life amidst
the luxuries of nature, most people are debarred from indulging in such
pleasures. To meet this want artists have endeavoured to represent
landscapes so that people may be able to behold the grandeur of nature
without stepping out of their houses. In this light, painting affords
pleasures of a nobler sort by removing from one the impatient desire of
actually observing nature.
_Kuo Hsi_ (Chinese, eleventh century A.D.).