The article investigates the features of the images of nature in E. Kostrov’s works. Kostrov’s creative work is considered as an integral element of the artistic system associated with the traditional neo-classical view on nature, which underwent qualitative changes in the last third of the 18th century. In panegyrical poetry, the images of nature are called to convey enthusiastic emotions, create the illusion of the «golden age» that has been established in Russia. Since the 1780s, Kostrov increasingly introduces into his conditional landscapes individual details that animate abstract neo-classical images, give plasticity and picturesqueness to the pictures of nature. In a number of cases, Kostrov demonstrates his ability to notice the slightest changes in the natural world, reflecting the natural «sense of nature» present in the human soul. At the same time, in all cases, nature is a symbol or an allegory, designed to express certain «universal» experiences. The author of the article comes to the conclusion that Kostrov is characterized by «etiquette humility» before the classics, who remained a model of high service to art and the motherland for him.