pittoresque

Forms

pittoresque (plural pittoresques)^[1]

Etymology

It is borrowed from Italian pittoresco (“picturesque”),^[2][3][4][1] from pittore (“painter”),^[2][3][5] from Latin pictor (“painter”),^[2][6][7] from pingō (“to paint”).^[6][7] In Italian the phrase alla pittoresca (“in the manner of painters”) is found in the 16th century (Vasari), and the adjective in the sense “expressive, original” from the 17th.^[2][8] The Rey dictionary dates the borrowing to 1648, the TLFi to 1658.^[8][2]

The Italian word is related to peintre, which has the same Latin source.^[8]

Earliest recorded meaning

It first appears in the phrase à la pittoresque “in the manner of painters”, used by Scarron in 1658 and copied from the Italian phrase.^[2][8][5]

Semantic evolution

As an adjective it first had the technical sense “relating to painting” (1708), now expressed by pictural.^[2][8][3] In the 18th century, under English influence and the taste for landscape gardens and painting, it came to describe what is expressive and striking: the Abbé Du Bos used it of a pictorial composition with a strong overall effect, and Coypel in 1721 made it a noun, defining le pittoresque as a lively, unusual choice of nature's effects.^[8][2]

The word then left the language of painting for anything worth painting (1738) and for a landscape or place that holds the eye by its originality (1749), the sense behind the fashion for voyages pittoresques in the late 18th and 19th centuries.^[8][2] In the 19th century it was a publishers' term for illustrated books and reviews, such as the Magasin pittoresque (1833).^[8][2] Its link with the exotic and folkloric gave it, from the late 19th century, a pejorative shade for works crowded with cheap local colour, but it is mostly used favourably today, especially of landscapes and regions visited by tourists.^[8] English picturesque (1703) was formed on the pattern of the French word.^[9]

Timeline

• 1648 – Date the Rey dictionary gives for the borrowing.^[8]
• 1658 – Scarron writes à la pittoresque “in the manner of painters”.^[2]
• 1703 – English picturesque is formed on the pattern of the French word.^[9]
• 1708 – Roger de Piles uses the adjective for “relating to painting”.^[2][3][6]
• 1719 – Du Bos applies it to an expressive, striking composition.^[2]
• 1721 – Coypel uses le pittoresque as a noun.^[2][8]
• 1732 – First record of the adverb pittoresquement.^[2][8]
• 1738 – The Marquis d'Argens writes of drapperies pittoresques, things worth painting.^[2]
• 1749 – A Voyage pittoresque des environs de Paris uses it of places that charm by their originality.^[2][8]
• 1833 – The illustrated weekly Le Magasin pittoresque is founded.^[2][8]

Meanings

Adjective

1. Worth painting; attracting the eye or charming by an original look, as a street, a village or a landscape: un port pittoresque.^[5][10][11]
2. Vivid and colourful in description, rich in images: un récit pittoresque.^[5][10]
3. Noticed or amusing for its originality, as a person or an outfit.^[10][5]
4. (dated) Relating to painting; now pictural.^[2][6][7]

Noun

1. The picturesque: a picturesque, expressive or striking quality.^[5][10]
2. (art history) A trend in British garden design and country-house architecture of the 18th and 19th centuries.^[10]

Word family

• pittoresquement

Related words

• peintre
• pictural
• Italian pittoresco
• Latin pictor
• English picturesque

References

1. ^ a b c Wiktionary, the free dictionary, https://en.wiktionary.org
2. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n o p q r s Trésor de la langue française informatisé (2004), ATILF – CNRS & Université de Lorraine, atilf.fr/tlfi; electronic version of Imbs, Paul; Quemada, Bernard, eds. (1971–1994), Trésor de la langue française, Paris: CNRS / Gallimard
3. ^ a b c d Bloch, Oscar; Wartburg, Walther von (1989), Dictionnaire étymologique de la langue française, 8th ed., Paris: Presses universitaires de France
4. ^ Rey, Alain, ed. (2005), Le Grand Robert de la langue française, electronic version, Paris: Le Robert
5. ^ a b c d e f Rey-Debove, Josette; Rey, Alain, eds. (2007), Le Petit Robert de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
6. ^ a b c d Guilbert, Louis; Lagane, René; Niobey, Georges, eds. (1971–1978; 1989), Grand Larousse de la langue française, Paris: Larousse
7. ^ a b c Littré, Émile (1873–1877), Dictionnaire de la langue française, 4 vols. and supplement, Paris: Hachette
8. ^ a b c d e f g h i j k l m n Rey, Alain, ed. (1992), Dictionnaire historique de la langue française, Paris: Le Robert
9. ^ a b Harper, Douglas. Online Etymology Dictionary, https://www.etymonline.com
10. ^ a b c d e Dictionnaire de français Larousse, larousse.fr/dictionnaires/francais (accessed 2024)
11. ^ Dictionnaire Le Robert en ligne, dictionnaire.lerobert.com (accessed 2024)