These grandest examples of private architecture show off the power, wealth and taste of their owners. In size, splendour and design they dominate the countryside and the townscape. Specially commissioned paintings of country houses and their estates are common from the sixteenth century, at first in Holland and later in Britain. Some artists, like Leonard Knyff, specialised in them, with distinctive aerial views. The influence of landscape painting on garden and park design later led to country houses being depicted more naturally in a carefully composed landscape setting.
Kings and emperors also commissioned views of their palaces. Bernardo Bellotto’s views of Warsaw and its royal palaces (held in collections in Warsaw) were used to rebuild the city and palaces after their destruction in the Second World War.
