Landscape is probably the most popular type of painting. This guide examines how artists in past centuries translated outdoor space and light into paint, and how landscape imagery evolved from ornament into a visual metaphor of the human condition. The text begins with Roman mural decoration, through the Renaissance transformation of landscape into a vehicle for feelings and ideas, and continues through to the Impressionist revolution and beyond. The continuing relevance of art to how we see the world, and our place in it, is demonstrated through a practical discussion of optics of real and painted landscape, illustrated with works from the National Gallery.