The establishment of landscape painting as an independent genre during the 17th century was preceded by an intensive exploration of technical and thematic possibilities. The spread of perspective painting fostered the increasing depiction of the natural environment, while the revival of ancient conceptions of nature made nature a co-protagonist in the pictorial narrative. This lecture will examine the historical origins, cultural influences, and Europe-wide disseminations of early landscape painting—from Patinir’s “world landscape” and Dürer’s watercolors, through the earliest autonomous landscape paintings by members of the Danube School, to the influential works of Rubens, Poussin, and Rembrandt.