Looking at a view from a great height, we unconsciously realize that objects nearby are big and clear, their colors bright, while those farther away seem smaller, fainter, and more blurred. Because of dust particles in the air, mountains in the distance appear blue or lavender against the sky.
A camera will record the way things look. But to the artist the representation of a wide and distant view offers a real challenge. He must confine its immensity to the limits of his canvas or wall; he must reduce its size, or take a small section of it. He must do something with the landscape to express his ideas about it. Perhaps he will cut out some of its myriad detail, will select and emphasize. He may even try to show that distant objects are not actually smaller than near ones, or mountains really blue. Scenery varies in different parts of the world; ways of looking at it and painting it vary even more.
- Alice Elizabeth Chase
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