picturesque (adj.)

"picture-like, possessing notably original and pleasing qualities," 1703, on pattern of French pittoresque, a loan-word from Italian pittoresco, literally "pictorial" (1660s), from pittore "painter," from Latin pictorem (nominative pictor); see painter (n.1). Of language (somewhat euphemistically), "graphic, vivid," by 1734. As a noun, "that which is picturesque," from 1749. Related: Picturesquely; picturesqueness.