The belief about what is picturesque and what is beautiful differs between people, religions, societies, and even amid different time periods. William Gilpin’s essay on the picturesque describes that beauty varies amongst spectators as does the standards and importance of its presence. In the 19th century Britain’s religious faith found beauty in God’s word and the nature he had created around them. William Paley’s Natural Theology of 1802 stated that God’s natural design is both beautiful and influential to the British people. Their beliefs in God and his works gave importance to his creations, making them extremely beautiful to those who believed. Believing in the existence of God generated their idea of beauty.
Those, however, who accepted nature versus the idea of religion found the objects around them to be picturesque. Gilpin describes picturesque as ruggedness which directly opposes his belief that beauty is smooth and neat. Beauty is the representation of an object while picturesque is nothing more than the object itself. Nature and all its flaws are what make up the picturesque. The belief in physical objects rather than in ideas allows those who lean toward nature to find beauty in the imperfections and the roughness of the world.
~KR
Gilpin, William. “On Picturesque Beauty.” Essay I. Web. 27 August 2012.
