The purpose of this publication is identifying the main patterns of depicting cartographic motifs, images and symbols in the development of foreign painting. Materials for the study were more than three hundred paintings with cartographic motifs shown on them, belonging to the brush of artists from different countries and eras. Main research methods are visual analysis; comparison of plots; historical and cultural interpretation; identification of general and particular; systematization of data. The following key features image mapping motifs in paintings by European masters were revealed: the involvement of the eminent (great) artists in drawing and making maps; detailed maps depicting and their compliance with real prototypes; creating an image of the geographer in painting; strong geopolitical and symbolic connotations; the allocation of cartographic products as the main plot. The story lines of the paintings with inclusion of cartographic motifs have significant differences in Russian and foreign painting related to the features of historical development of cartography and painting, the recognition of geographer’s and geography’s role as a whole.