Bernardo Bellotto (c. 1721/2 or 30 January 172117 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 A landscape is the visible features of an area of land, its landforms, and how they integrate with natural or man-made features, often considered in terms of their aesthetic appeal.''New Oxford American Dictionary''. A landscape includes the ...

painter Painting is the practice of applying paint, pigment, color or other medium to a solid surface (called the "matrix" or "support"). The medium is commonly applied to the base with a brush, but other implements, such as knives, sponges, and ...

or ''vedutista'', and

printmaker Printmaking is the process of creating work of art, artworks by printing, normally on paper, but also on fabric, wood, metal, and other surfaces. "Traditional printmaking" normally covers only the process of creating prints using a hand proce ...

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 ...

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 officiall ...

. 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 genr ...

'', 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

Capricho arquitectónico con un palacio - Bernardo Bellotto

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 of

Savoy Savoy (; frp, Savouè ; french: Savoie ) is a cultural-historical region in the Western Alps. Situated on the cultural boundary between Occitania and Piedmont, the area extends from Lake Geneva in the north to the Dauphiné in the south. Sa ...

. From 1747 to 1758 he moved to

, 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 A bomb is an explosive weapon that uses the exothermic reaction of an explosive material to provide an extremely sudden and violent release of energy. Detonations inflict damage principally through ground- and atmosphere-transmitted mechanica ...

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. Capriccio of the Capital by Bernardo Bellotto

Capriccio of the Capital by Bernardo Bellotto

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 , en, Catherine Alexeievna Romanova, link=yes , house = , father = Christian August, Prince of Anhalt-Zerbst , mother = Joanna Elisabeth of Holstein-Gottorp , birth_date = , birth_name = Princess Sophie of Anha ...

. On his way to Saint Petersburg, however, Bellotto accepted an invitation in 1764 from Poland's newly elected King

Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski Stanislav and variants may refer to: People *Stanislav (given name), a Slavic given name with many spelling variations (Stanislaus, Stanislas, Stanisław, etc.) Places * Stanislav, a coastal village in Kherson, Ukraine * Stanislaus County, Cal ...

to become his court painter in

from 1768. Bellotto View of Warsaw from Praga

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 admi ...

, 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 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 Marcin Zaleski (1796 – 16 September 1877) was a Polish painter, a representative of Neoclassicism, considered the greatest Polish vedutist of the 19th century. He mostly painted the cityscapes of Warsaw, Kraków and Vilnius. Biography ...

. 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 United States, U.S. U.S. state, state of Ohio and the county seat of Cuyahoga County, Ohio, Cuyahoga County. Located in the northeastern part of the state, it is situated along ...

(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 c ...

* ''View of Piazza san Marco'' Museo civico Amedeo Lia,

La Spezia La Spezia (, or , ; in the local Spezzino dialect) is the capital city of the province of La Spezia and is located at the head of the Gulf of La Spezia in the southern part of the Liguria region of Italy. La Spezia is the second largest cit ...

* ''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 metro ...

* ''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 New York most commonly refers to: * New York City, the most populous city in the United States, located in the state of New York * New York (state), a state in the northeastern United States New York may also refer to: Film and television * '' ...

* ''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 ...

* ''View of Turin with the Palazzo Reale'' (1745) Galleria Sabauda,

* ''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 larges ...

, 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, 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)

, St Petersburg * ''Marketplace at Pirna'' (c. 1764)

Museum of Fine Arts, Houston The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston (MFAH), is an art museum located in the Houston Museum District of Houston, Texas. With the recent completion of an eight-year campus redevelopment project, including the opening of the Nancy and Rich Kinder Buil ...

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 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 of ...

* 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 The National Gallery of Art, and its attached Sculpture Garden, is a national art museum in Washington, D.C., United States, located on the National Mall, between 3rd and 9th Streets, at Constitution Avenue NW. Open to the public and free of ch ...

, 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 * ''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 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 The Kunsthistorisches Museum ( "Museum of Art History", often referred to as the "Museum of Fine Arts") is an art museum in Vienna, Austria. Housed in its festive palatial building on the Vienna Ring Road, it is crowned with an octagonal d ...

, 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 asCanaletto", '' Encyklopedia Polski'', 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