What is topographical representation?

Answer 1

Topographical Paintings are painting like maps but show ALL man made features. - Admin

Topographical Paintings on Porcelain

The accurate, objective, realistic rendition of a portion of a city or town is called veduta esatta (Italian for "exact view") painting. The view, usually presented from ground level or from a slightly elevated position, is bathed in an even light, allowing clearly visible distant details and stressing manmade objects such as important royal and municipal buildings, bridges, streets, squares, cathedrals, castles, museums, theaters, and more (Fig. 1). The terms veduta esatta, cityscapes, townscapes, and topographical views or scenes are used interchangeably. The rendition of a single building, although more correctly called architectural painting, is often included under the veduta esatta rubric. Human and animal figures, when present, are ancillary or decorative in veduta esattapaintings and used to show the relative size of buildings.

In contrast, vedute ideate or capriccio painting portrays a real or an imaginary view of a place and, like its close cousin, landscape painting, is more subjective, creative, and interpretive; humans and animals assume a more important and, occasionally, central role (Fig. 2).

Topographical views are rendered in a wide variety of media, including oil, watercolor, pen and ink, engraving, aquatint, and transfers and etchings on canvas, paper, wood, metal, and ivory. A brief history of the origin and evolution of topographical painting on these media is important to understand the emergence of topographical painting on porcelain. -by Fred Glauser