There were many different reasons behind patrons’ longing for landscapes, some common to all, others quite specific to a certain patron. To some extent at its root was a new appreciation of life in the country, which is attested to from the mid sixteenth century on by the construction of many new villas. Perhaps this was dictated to some extent by the transformation of Rome into a veritable metropolis, even if this happened at a relatively slow pace. Nature, and by extension representations of nature, meant otium (leisure, as opposed to the negotium [business] of the city), relaxation and the desire for Horatian peacefulness.