By the mid-nineteenth century, landscape prints, including urban views, formed the largest category of ukiyo-e after figure prints. Initially landscapes in Japanese art depicted 'famous places' (meisho), celebrated for their literary or historical associations. Such associations were as important as the actual scenery itself in the construction of landscape art. In the course of the eighteenth century a significant shift occurred. Admiration for the aura bestowed upon a place by the literary production of a high-born person was replaced by appreciation of an artist's personal, creative response to it. At the same time, Japanese artists were influenced by imported European prints. Some simply copied the European views; others adapted perspective, modelling and shading derived from imported engravings for their depiction of Japanese places.