Abstract

The “rediscovery” of landscapes in the 14 th Century marks one of the great innovations in western European painting. For centuries the theme of landscape was of little interest. Of course landscapes existed as scenic or narrative elements, but painters never aspired to a mimetic description of a particular landscape. However motifs of landscape do appear as signs embedded in a long formal and also literary tradition. For example, a single mountain or a single tree can function iconically by representing as an entire forest or landscape tout court. Often a single mountain merely signifies the locus of a narrative action, but the appearance in the picture of mountain landscape opens a wider field of meanings. Mountains are – in Greek mythology as well as in the biblical tradition – places of the appearance of God, they are places of inspiration, of passion and of asceticism. Indeed, in some pictures a close relationship unfolds between actor and mountain. Nature gains vivid emotions and assumes an active role, which often surpasses that of humans. In these cases the mountain may suffer with the hero, may augment the sense of pride associated with victory, or may even vicariously outperform him. These different meanings of the mountain are explored through exemplars drawn mainly from medieval illuminated manuscripts.