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dvocated the semantic analysis based on the text. The main task of the critics was to describe how each part of the text woven together to form a unified whole, and to dig the meaning of the text from the language features such as symbolism and irony. 

Chapter Two Theoretical Framework

2.1 The Origin and Development of the Picturesque Theory

Compared with China, the tradition of appreciating landscapes in the West started late. The main reason is that Europeans used to believe that forests, mountains, and rivers were sinful. Christopher Hussey once wrote, “a further bar to the love of nature in the west was the conversion, by early Christian teachers, of the ancient gods of wood and spring into evil spirits, and of Pan into the Devil … hermits who withdrew to deserts were believed to be peculiarly subject to the forces of evil” (4). When Europeans no longer associated nature with the idea of “evilness”, they began to appreciate the beauty in nature. Later on, landscapes gradually replaced figures and animals, becoming the most frequently used theme in paintings at a certain period. According to art historian Christopher Wood, the first independent landscape painting in European art history was painted by Bavarian painter Albrecht Altdorfer (c. 1480-1538) of the Renaissance. Since then, European landscape paintings gained momentum, and entered its peak in the 17th century, with Italian and Dutch landscape paintings being the most representative. A large number of successful landscape painters emerged, such as Claude Lorrain, Gaspard Dughet, Salvator Rosa et al.. In the middle of the 17th century, the Grand Tour, popular among upper-class young European men of sufficient means and rank, prompted the British people to pay attention to landscapes and landscape paintings. During the trip, they crossed the Alps and witnessed the magnificence of Italian historical sites, and more importantly, they were exposed to landscape paintings. As art collectors and connoisseurs, they brought these paintings back to the UK, anglicized the landscapes on the paintings, replaced ancient Roman ruins with British Gothic buildings, and transformed mythological and religious figures into English travelers. At the same time, Italian and Dutch in art were also translated into English. For example, “picturesque” came from Italian word “pittoresco”. 

2.2  Essential Ingredients of Picturesque Views

2.2.1 Ruins

Ruins are one of the essential ingredients of a picturesque scenery because they have broken and rough surfaces, which is the most important quality of the picturesque aesthetic: “in ruins, even of the most regular edifices, the lines are so softened by decay or interrupted by demolition; the stiffness of design is so relieved by the accidental intrusion of springing shrubs and pendant weeds…” (Hunt 259) 

In addition, the ruins often stand there with some grandeur and elegance, after experiencing many years of storms or even man-made sabotage, it is full of stories, waiting for the viewers to complete its history covered in dust with their imagination. Thomas Burnet enquired into the causes of the broken world of mountains in The Sacred Theory of the Earth; Turner and Byron mediated upon the vacancies of Roman remains, expecting to complete their fragments with imagination.

Ruins and ancient Roman architectures are common eleme本论文由英语论文网提供整理，提供论文代写，英语论文代写，代写论文，代写英语论文，代写留学生论文，代写英文论文，留学生论文代写相关核心关键词搜索。