What are the conceptual correspondences and gaps between theories of nature, ecology, environment, and aesthetics? This volume addresses the ecological and aesthetic dimensions of human interaction with geographical, geological, botanical, zoological, astronomical, and climatic formations. Other than literary ecocriticism which led to heated debates, this book deals with the ecological turn in visual studies, a territory of research still in its infancy. Art history is thus engaging in the crucial exchange between ecological and aesthetic studies. The contributions adopt a historical as well as a transcultural perspective reaching from the earliest known human interaction with the natural environment to the present day.

Hannah Baader, Gerhard Wolf, Kunsthistorisches Institut, Florenz; Sugata Ray, University of California, Berkeley.