Bernardo Bellotto (c. 1721/2
or 30 January 1721
17 November 1780),
was an
Italian
Italian(s) may refer to:
* Anything of, from, or related to the people of Italy over the centuries
** Italians, an ethnic group or simply a citizen of the Italian Republic or Italian Kingdom
** Italian language, a Romance language
*** Regional Ita ...
urban
landscape painter or ''vedutista'', and
printmaker in
etching
Etching is traditionally the process of using strong acid or mordant to cut into the unprotected parts of a metal surface to create a design in intaglio (incised) in the metal. In modern manufacturing, other chemicals may be used on other types ...
famous for his ''vedute'' of
Europe
Europe is a large peninsula conventionally considered a continent in its own right because of its great physical size and the weight of its history and traditions. Europe is also considered a Continent#Subcontinents, subcontinent of Eurasia ...
an cities –
Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
,
Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,
Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
, and
Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
. He was the student and nephew of the renowned Giovanni Antonio Canal
Canaletto
Giovanni Antonio Canal (18 October 1697 – 19 April 1768), commonly known as Canaletto (), was an Italian painter from the Republic of Venice, considered an important member of the 18th-century Venetian school.
Painter of city views or ...
and sometimes used the latter's illustrious name, signing himself as Bernardo Canaletto.
[ In Germany and Poland, Bellotto called himself by his uncle's name, Canaletto. This caused some confusion, however Bellotto’s work is more sombre in color than Canaletto's and his depiction of clouds and shadows brings him closer to Dutch painting.
Bellotto's style was characterized by elaborate representation of architectural and natural vistas, and by the specific quality of each place's lighting. It is plausible that Bellotto, and other Venetian masters of '']vedute
A ''veduta'' (Italian for "view"; plural ''vedute'') is a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. The painters of ''vedute'' are referred to as ''vedutisti''.
Origins
This genre ...
'', may have used the camera obscura
A camera obscura (; ) is a darkened room with a small hole or lens at one side through which an image is projected onto a wall or table opposite the hole.
''Camera obscura'' can also refer to analogous constructions such as a box or tent in w ...
in order to achieve superior precision of urban views.[
]
Life
Bellotto was born in Venice
Venice ( ; it, Venezia ; vec, Venesia or ) is a city in northeastern Italy and the capital of the Veneto Regions of Italy, region. It is built on a group of 118 small islands that are separated by canals and linked by over 400 ...
, the son of Lorenzo Antonio Bellotto and Fiorenza Canal, sister of the famous Canaletto, and studied in his uncle's workshop.[
In 1742 he moved to ]Rome
, established_title = Founded
, established_date = 753 BC
, founder = King Romulus (legendary)
, image_map = Map of comune of Rome (metropolitan city of Capital Rome, region Lazio, Italy).svg
, map_caption ...
, where he produced ''vedute'' of that city. In 1744 and 1745 he traveled northern Italy, again depicting ''vedute'' of each city. Among others, he worked for Charles Emmanuel III
Charles Emmanuel III (27 April 1701 – 20 February 1773) was Duke of Savoy and King of Sardinia from 1730 until his death.
Biography
He was born in Turin to Victor Amadeus II of Savoy and his first wife the French Anne Marie d'Orléans. Hi ...
of Savoy.[
From 1747 to 1758 he moved to ]Dresden
Dresden (, ; Upper Saxon: ''Dräsdn''; wen, label=Upper Sorbian, Drježdźany) is the capital city of the German state of Saxony and its second most populous city, after Leipzig. It is the 12th most populous city of Germany, the fourth larg ...
,[ following an invitation from King ]Augustus III of Poland
Augustus III ( pl, August III Sas, lt, Augustas III; 17 October 1696 5 October 1763) was King of Poland and Grand Duke of Lithuania from 1733 until 1763, as well as Elector of Saxony in the Holy Roman Empire where he was known as Frederick Aug ...
. He created paintings of the cities Dresden and Pirna
Pirna (; hsb, Pěrno; ) is a town in Saxony, Germany and capital of the administrative district Sächsische Schweiz-Osterzgebirge. The town's population is over 37,000. Pirna is located near Dresden and is an important district town as well as ...
and their surroundings.[ Today these paintings preserve a memory of Dresden's former beauty, which was destroyed by bombing during World War II.
His international reputation grew, and in 1758 he accepted an invitation from ]Empress Maria Theresa
Maria Theresa Walburga Amalia Christina (german: Maria Theresia; 13 May 1717 – 29 November 1780) was ruler of the Habsburg dominions from 1740 until her death in 1780, and the only woman to hold the position '' suo jure'' (in her own right) ...
to come to Vienna
en, Viennese
, iso_code = AT-9
, registration_plate = W
, postal_code_type = Postal code
, postal_code =
, timezone = CET
, utc_offset = +1
, timezone_DST ...
,[ where he painted views of the city's monuments.
In 1761 Bellotto left Vienna for Munich, where he spent almost a year. In a letter to her cousin Maria Antonia of Bavaria, Empress Maria Theresia had praised Bellotto's artistic achievements at the Viennese court. Logically, he was commissioned works by the ruling family of Bavaria. He painted a panoramic view of Munich and two vedute of Nymphenburg Palace for the elector of Bavaria. At the end of 1761, Bellotto returned to Dresden.
When King Augustus III of Poland, also an ]Elector of Saxony
The Electorate of Saxony, also known as Electoral Saxony (German: or ), was a territory of the Holy Roman Empire from 1356–1806. It was centered around the cities of Dresden, Leipzig and Chemnitz.
In the Golden Bull of 1356, Emperor Charles ...
, who usually lived in Dresden, died in 1763, Bellotto's work became less important in Dresden. As a consequence, he left Dresden to seek employment in Saint Petersburg
Saint Petersburg ( rus, links=no, Санкт-Петербург, a=Ru-Sankt Peterburg Leningrad Petrograd Piter.ogg, r=Sankt-Peterburg, p=ˈsankt pʲɪtʲɪrˈburk), formerly known as Petrograd (1914–1924) and later Leningrad (1924–1991), i ...
at the court of Catherine II of Russia. On his way to Saint Petersburg, however, Bellotto accepted an invitation in 1764 from Poland's newly elected King Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski to become his court painter in Warsaw
Warsaw ( pl, Warszawa, ), officially the Capital City of Warsaw,, abbreviation: ''m.st. Warszawa'' is the capital and largest city of Poland. The metropolis stands on the River Vistula in east-central Poland, and its population is officia ...
from 1768.[
Here he remained some 16 years, for the rest of his life, as court painter to the King, for whom he painted numerous views of the Polish capital and its environs for the ]Royal Castle in Warsaw
The Royal Castle in Warsaw ( pl, Zamek Królewski w Warszawie) is a state museum and a national historical monument, which formerly served as the official royal residence of several Polish monarchs. The personal offices of the king and the adm ...
, complement of the great historical paintings commissioned by Poniatowski from Marcello Bacciarelli
Marcello Bacciarelli (; 16 February 1731 – 5 January 1818) was a Polish- Italian painter of the late-baroque and Neoclassic periods.
Biography
He was born in Rome, and studied there under Marco Benefial. In 1750, with the recommendation of t ...
. His initial commissions included painted decoration of the Ujazdów Castle
Ujazdów Castle ( pl, Zamek Ujazdowski) is a castle in the historic Ujazdów district, between Ujazdów Park (''Park Ujazdowski'') and the Royal Baths Park (''Łazienki Królewskie''), in Warsaw, Poland.
Its beginnings date to the 13th century ...
between 1767 and 1770, of which a study of illusionistic vault is the only preserved example of profuse decoration lost in 1784 during the reconstruction of the castle into military barracks.[
In 1769 the painter and his son Lorenzo (1744–1770) accomplished another large royal commission – fourteen views of Rome, ancient and papal, based on the collection of etchings by ]Giovanni Battista Piranesi
Giovanni Battista (or Giambattista) Piranesi (; also known as simply Piranesi; 4 October 1720 – 9 November 1778) was an Italian Classical archaeologist, architect, and artist, famous for his etchings of Rome and of fictitious and atmospheric ...
entitled ''Vedute di Roma''.[ The collection was dispersed in the early nineteenth century and today various paintings can be admired in different museums in Russia – ''The Roman Forum as seen from the Capitol to the south-east'' and ''Piazza della Rotonda with Pantheon'' (Museum of Fine Arts in Moscow), ''View of the Piazza Navona'' (State Museum in Gorky), ''View of S. Maria Maggiore'' (Museum of Art in Khabarovsk) and in private collections.][
His paintings of Warsaw, 26 vedute painted between 1770–80 to embellish the so-called ''Panorama Room'' (later ''Canaletto Room'') at the Royal Castle in Warsaw and later relocated to Russia, were restored to the Polish Government in 1921][ and were used in rebuilding the city after its near-complete destruction by German troops during World War II.][
Bellotto's early work bears strong features of his uncle's style, becoming more individual and distinguished in later years with clear inspiration of Dutch landscape painting with massed clouds, cast shadows and rich foliage.][ His colouring is colder and characterized by a steely grey.][
The last period of the artist's work is assessed as distinct from the earlier stages with emphasis on the immediacy of observation, striving for a generic treatment of staffage,][ ability to capture the atmosphere of the place][ and visible transformation of his painting which become more colorful with warmer tones.][ For the first time he also undertook historical subjects including ''Election of Stanislaus Augustus'' (1778) for the King and ''Entry of Jerzy Ossoliński into Rome in 1633'' (1779) commissioned by ]Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński
Count Józef Kajetan Piotr Maksymilian Ossoliński known as Józef Maksymilian Ossoliński (1748 – 17 March 1826) was a Polish nobleman, landowner, politician, novelist, poet, historian and researcher into literature, historian, translator, ...
.[ Bellotto created a school of painting which was later continued and developed by ]Zygmunt Vogel
Zygmunt Vogel (15 June 1764, Wołczyn – 20 April 1826, Warsaw) was a Polish illustrator, educator, and painter in the classical style. He was sometimes called ''Ptaszek'' (Polish for "Bird"): a reference to his name (which means "bird" in G ...
and Marcin Zaleski.[
Bernardo Bellotto died in Warsaw in 1780 and was buried in Capuchin Church at Miodowa Street.][
His younger brother was named Pietro Bellotto (1725 – c. 1805) and after collaborating with Canaletto and his brother, moved to France, where he was known as ''le Sieur Canalety'' and ''Pietro Bellotti di Caneletty''. The brother was also referred to as ''Belloti'', ''Belloty'', ''Beloty'', or ''Bellottit''.
]
Works by subject
Italy
Venice and Veneto
* '' The Grand Canal facing Santa Croce'' (c.1738) National Gallery
The National Gallery is an art museum in Trafalgar Square in the City of Westminster, in Central London, England. Founded in 1824, it houses a collection of over 2,300 paintings dating from the mid-13th century to 1900. The current Director ...
* ''Piazza san Marco'', 1740 ca., Cleveland
Cleveland ( ), officially the City of Cleveland, is a city in the U.S. state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along the southern shore of Lake Erie, across the U.S. ...
(Ohio), Cleveland Museum of Art
The Cleveland Museum of Art (CMA) is an art museum in Cleveland, Ohio, located in the Wade Park District, in the University Circle neighborhood on the city's east side. Internationally renowned for its substantial holdings of Asian and Egyptian ...
* ''The Grand Canal in Venice'' (c.1740) Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon
The Museum of Fine Arts of Lyon (french: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Lyon) is a municipal museum of fine arts in the French city of Lyon. Located near the Place des Terreaux, it is housed in a former Benedictine convent which was active during the 1 ...
* '' Capriccio with the Campidoglio'' (c.1742) Galleria Nazionale di Parma
* Piazza del Campidoglio with Santa Maria d'Aracoeli, Rome (c1743) Petworth House
Petworth House in the parish of Petworth, West Sussex, England, is a late 17th-century Grade I listed country house, rebuilt in 1688 by Charles Seymour, 6th Duke of Somerset, and altered in the 1870s to the design of the architect Anthony Sa ...
* ''Venice - the campo dell'Arsenale'' (c.1743), National Gallery of Canada
The National Gallery of Canada (french: Musée des beaux-arts du Canada), located in the capital city of Ottawa, Ontario, is Canada's national art museum. The museum's building takes up , with of space used for exhibiting art. It is one of the ...
, Ottawa
Ottawa (, ; Canadian French: ) is the capital city of Canada. It is located at the confluence of the Ottawa River and the Rideau River in the southern portion of the province of Ontario. Ottawa borders Gatineau, Quebec, and forms the core ...
* ''View of Piazza san Marco'' Museo civico Amedeo Lia, La Spezia
* ''The ponte delle Navi in Verona'' (1746-1747)View looking north at Powis Castle
Powis Castle ( cy, Castell Powys) is a British medieval castle, fortress and grand country house near Welshpool, in Powys. The seat of the Herbert family, Earls of Powis, the castle is known for its formal gardens and for its interiors, the fo ...
, view looking south on long-term loan to National Gallery of Scotland
The Scottish National Gallery (formerly the National Gallery of Scotland) is the national art gallery of Scotland. It is located on The Mound in central Edinburgh, close to Princes Street. The building was designed in a neoclassical style by W ...
Other
* ''Rovine del Foro romano'' (c.1743), National Gallery of Victoria
The National Gallery of Victoria, popularly known as the NGV, is an art museum in Melbourne, Victoria, Australia. Founded in 1861, it is Australia's oldest and most visited art museum.
The NGV houses an encyclopedic art collection across two ...
, Melbourne
Melbourne ( ; Boonwurrung/Woiwurrung: ''Narrm'' or ''Naarm'') is the capital and most populous city of the Australian state of Victoria, and the second-most populous city in both Australia and Oceania. Its name generally refers to a met ...
* ''View of Vaprio d'Adda'' (1744), Metropolitan Museum of Art
The Metropolitan Museum of Art of New York City, colloquially "the Met", is the largest art museum in the Americas. Its permanent collection contains over two million works, divided among 17 curatorial departments. The main building at 1000 ...
, New York
* ''View of the Villa Perabò poi Melzi in Gazzada'' (c.1744), Pinacoteca di Brera
The Pinacoteca di Brera ("Brera Art Gallery") is the main public gallery for paintings in Milan, Italy. It contains one of the foremost collections of Italian paintings from the 13th to the 20th century, an outgrowth of the cultural program of ...
, Milan
Milan ( , , Lombard: ; it, Milano ) is a city in northern Italy, capital of Lombardy, and the second-most populous city proper in Italy after Rome. The city proper has a population of about 1.4 million, while its metropolitan city h ...
* ''View of Turin with the Palazzo Reale'' (1745) Galleria Sabauda
The Galleria Sabauda is an art collection in the Italian city of Turin, which contains the royal art collections amassed by the House of Savoy over the centuries. It is located on Via XX Settembre, 86.
The museum, whose first directors were Rober ...
, Turin
Turin ( , Piedmontese language, Piedmontese: ; it, Torino ) is a city and an important business and cultural centre in Northern Italy. It is the capital city of Piedmont and of the Metropolitan City of Turin, and was the first Italian capital ...
* ''View of the old bridge over the Po in Turin''(1745) Galleria Sabauda, Turin
Dresden and Saxony
* '' Dresden From the Right Bank of the Elbe Above the Augustus Bridge'' (1747) Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister
The Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister (, ''Old Masters Gallery'') in Dresden, Germany, displays around 750 paintings from the 15th to the 18th centuries. It includes major Italian Renaissance works as well as Dutch and Flemish paintings. Outstand ...
* ''The New Market in Dresden'' (c.1747) Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...
, St Petersburg
* ''The Hofkirche in Dresden with the castle and the Augustus bridge (Dresden from the left bank of the Elbe)'' (1748) Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli
The Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli is an art gallery in Turin, Italy. It opened in 2002 on the top floor of the Lingotto complex (the headquarters of the Italian auto giant Fiat founded in 1899 by Giovanni Agnelli), where a "scrigno" or 450 ...
, Turin
* ''The New Market in Dresden seen from Moritzstrasse'' (c.1750) Pinacoteca Giovanni e Marella Agnelli, Turin
* ''View of Dresden with the Frauenkirche'' (1750-1752) Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden
* ''Square with the Kreuzkirche in Dresden'' (1751-1752) Hermitage Museum
The State Hermitage Museum ( rus, Государственный Эрмитаж, r=Gosudarstvennyj Ermitaž, p=ɡəsʊˈdarstvʲɪn(ː)ɨj ɪrmʲɪˈtaʂ, links=no) is a museum of art and culture in Saint Petersburg, Russia. It is the largest ...
, St Petersburg
* ''Marketplace at Pirna'' (c. 1764) Museum of Fine Arts, Houston
1756-1758 series
* ''The Fortress of Königstein: Courtyard with the Brunnenhaus'' Manchester Art Gallery
Manchester Art Gallery, formerly Manchester City Art Gallery, is a publicly owned art museum on Mosley Street in Manchester city centre. The main gallery premises were built for a learned society in 1823 and today its collection occupies three ...
* ''The Fortress of Königstein: Courtyard with the Magdalenenburg'' Manchester Art Gallery
* ''The Fortress of Königstein from the North'' National Gallery, London
* The Fortress of Königstein from the South-West'' (private collection, Earl of Derby
Earl of Derby ( ) is a title in the Peerage of England. The title was first adopted by Robert de Ferrers, 1st Earl of Derby, under a creation of 1139. It continued with the Ferrers family until the 6th Earl forfeited his property toward the en ...
)
* ''The Fortress of Königstein'' ( National Gallery of Art, Washington)
Warsaw
* ''Church of the Sisters of St Bernard and the Column of Sigismund III in Warsaw from the descent towards the Vistula'' (1768-1770) Royal Castle, Warsaw
The Royal Castle in Warsaw ( pl, Zamek Królewski w Warszawie) is a state museum and a national historical monument, which formerly served as the official royal residence of several Polish monarchs. The personal offices of the king and the adm ...
* ''View of Warsaw with the Vistula from the Praga Suburb'' (1770) Royal Castle, Warsaw
* ''View of the Wilanòw Meadows'' (1775) Royal Castle, Warsaw
* ''Miodowa Street in Warsaw'' (1777) Royal Castle, Warsaw
* ''Kraninski Square in Warsaw'' (1778) Royal Castle, Warsaw
* ''Iron-Gate Square
Iron-Gate Square (''Plac Żelaznej Bramy'') is a large open space in the city center of Warsaw. The square took its name from a large iron gate that once secured the western boundary of the Saxon Garden.
History
In the 17th century, the ar ...
in Warsaw'' (1779) Royal Castle, Warsaw
* ''The Carmelite Church in Warsaw'' (1780) Royal Castle, Warsaw
Other
* '' Das kaiserliche Lustschloß Schönbrunn, Ehrenhofseite'' (1759–1760) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
* ''Vienna seen from the Belvedere'' (1758-1761) Kunsthistorisches Museum, Vienna
* ''Capriccio with Christ Driving the Moneylenders from the Temple'' (1765-1766) National Museum, Warsaw
The National Museum in Warsaw ( pl, Muzeum Narodowe w Warszawie), popularly abbreviated as MNW, is a national museum in Warsaw, one of the largest museums in Poland and the largest in the capital. It comprises a rich collection of ancient art ( Eg ...
*''Capriccio with a River and Bridge'' (ca.1745) Thyssen-Bornemisza Museum
The Thyssen-Bornemisza National Museum (in Spanish, the Museo Nacional Thyssen-Bornemisza (), named after its founder), or simply the Thyssen, is an art museum in Madrid, Spain, located near the Prado Museum on one of the city's main boulevards. I ...
, Madrid
Madrid ( , ) is the capital and most populous city of Spain. The city has almost 3.4 million inhabitants and a metropolitan area population of approximately 6.7 million. It is the second-largest city in the European Union (EU), and ...
Notes
References
*Beddington, Charles. Bernardo Bellotto and His Circle in Italy. Part I: Not Canaletto but Bellotto. Burlington Magazine 146, no. 1216 (Cct. 2004): 665–674.
*" Bernardo, ''zwany'' nown as
A noun () is a word that generally functions as the name of a specific object or set of objects, such as living creatures, places, actions, qualities, states of existence, or ideas.Example nouns for:
* Living creatures (including people, alive, ...
Canaletto", ''Encyklopedia Polski
This is a list of encyclopedias by language.
Albanian
Encyclopedias written in Albanian.
* '' Albanian Encyclopedic Dictionary'' ( sq, Fjalori Enciklopedik Shqiptar): published by Academy of Sciences of Albania;
** First Edition (1985; ''FESH'') ...
'', p. 42.
*STEPHANE LOIRE, HANNA MALACHOWICZ, KRZYSTOF POMIAN, ANDRZEJ ROTTERMUND. "''Bernardo Bellotto, Un pittore veneziano a Varsavia''" . Book edited by Andrzej Rottermund, Director of the Royal Castle at Warszawa and Henry Loirette, Director of the Louvre Museum (Paris), from the Louvre Museum Exhibition of Bernardo Bellotto at the Warszawa Royal Castle from 7 October 2004 to 10 January 2005. 5 Continents Editions srl, Milano, (2004). . 134 pages with over 65 big size color photographs within.
External links
*
*
Biography and Gallery
Bernardo Bellotto in the "WikiArt"
Gallery of Canaletto's paintings, in particular many views of Dresden and Warsaw
How Bellotto's illustrations were used as inspiration to rebuild Warsaw's Old Town
National Trust images of the collection at Petworth house
{{DEFAULTSORT:Bellotto, Bernardo
1720s births
1780 deaths
Republic of Venice artists
18th-century Italian painters
Italian male painters
Italian printmakers
Italian vedutisti
Court painters
Italian expatriates in Germany
Culture in Dresden
Italian expatriates in Austria
Court painters of Polish kings
Italian emigrants to Poland
Italian expatriates in Poland
Dresden Academy of Fine Arts faculty
18th-century Italian male artists