Bucolic Scene

Bucolic imagery, depicting rustic landscapes and pastoral themes, was often used in ancient cultures to evoke ideas of peace, fertility and prosperity. Traditionally, landscape painting was considered the highest form of painting in Chinese culture, and was expressed both on paper and in ceramic form. These sophisticated depictions of the natural landscape far precede those in the west, and as such exhibit an entirely independent aesthetic tradition. In the Classical world, bucolic scenes became popular in imperial Rome, with the most famous example being the agricultural imagery displayed on the Ara Pacis, a monument dedicated to the goddess of peace.