ABSTRACT
Like designers, landscape historians must constantly wrestle with the
ephemeral nature of their subject matter. Landscapes are events. They
begin, develop, transform, and eventually come to an end, sometimes leav-
ing little in terms of tangible remains. Historians therefore rely on various
other sources of information about landscapes, but there, too, they must
navigate considerable uncertainties. For example, texts describing landscapes
often contain hyperbole, fantasy, or projection. They are subject to distor-
tion for a broad range of purposes. If words can deceive, images can do so
with equal if not greater effect. In most Western cultures, seeing is equated
with believing, and a deceptive picture is worth a thousand deceptive words.1
How, then, should we consider the images upon which landscape history has
depended so strongly, especially for works antedating the invention of photo-
graphy? For example, should we trust the many prints that seem to show
