The present landscape in Britain - part nature, part human artifice - reflects the way in which artists have seen the physical world around them. The wild Romantic painted landscapes of a Salvator Rosa have influenced those who created artificial wildernesses in the great gardens of Britain. The qualities which make up fine landscape have shifted over time, and the artists have reflected these changes. Peter Howard has written a detailed study of the manner in which artists in Britain look at the landscape. He begins in the 18th century, and continues into the 1980s, and follows taste through its Classical, Picturesque, Heroic, Vernacular and Formal phases. He covers every area of the British Isles, looking both at the causes and consequences of changes in the landscape.