Pietro Bellotti (1625–1700) was an Italian painter active in the

Baroque The Baroque (, ; ) is a style of architecture, music, dance, painting, sculpture, poetry, and other arts that flourished in Europe from the early 17th century until the 1750s. In the territories of the Spanish and Portuguese empires including t ...

period.

Life and Work

Bellotti was born in Volciano di Salò in 1627 (1625 according to Orlandi), he gained fame as a painter of portraits and heads of characters. He was a pupil of

Girolamo Forabosco Girolamo Forabosco or Gerolamo Forabosco (1605 – 23 January 1679) was an Italian painter of the Baroque period. He was active in Padua and his birthplace of Venice, where he was enrolled in the Venetian ''Fraglia dei Pittori'' between 1634–39 ...

in Venice. According to Orlandi he worked for

Cardinal Mazzarino Cardinal or The Cardinal may refer to: Animals * Cardinal (bird) or Cardinalidae, a family of North and South American birds **''Cardinalis'', genus of cardinal in the family Cardinalidae **''Cardinalis cardinalis'', or northern cardinal, the ...

Cardinal Ottoboni Pietro Ottoboni (2 July 1667 – 28 February 1740) was an Italian cardinal and grandnephew of Pope Alexander VIII, who was also born Pietro Ottoboni. He is remembered especially as a great patron of music and art. Ottoboni was the last person to h ...

(the future Pope Alexander VIII), for the elector of Bavaria and others. He was patronized by

Pope Alexander VIII Pope Alexander VIII ( it, Alessandro VIII; 22 April 1610 – 1 February 1691), born Pietro Vito Ottoboni, was head of the Catholic Church and ruler of the Papal States from 6 October 1689 to his death in February 1691. He is to date the las ...

and by the

Duke of Uceda Duke of Uceda ( es, Duque de Uceda) is a hereditary title in the Peerage of Spain, accompanied by the dignity of Grandee and granted in 1610 by Philip III to Cristóbal Gómez de Sandoval, who succeeded his father Francisco Gómez de Sandoval ...

. In Mantova he was "superintendent of the city and villa galleries"for Gorizaga. After wandering from court to court he returned to Lake Garda and died in poverty in Gargnano in 1700. His principal works are: * ''La Parca Lachesi'', from 1654, at the Museum of Stuttgart (replica, signed and dated 1684, at the Pinacoteca di Feltre); *''The Parcae Lachesis'', private collection, Brescia; Pietro Bellotti, The Parcae Lachesis

* ''Self-Portrait'', signed and dated 1658, at the

Uffizi Gallery The Uffizi Gallery (; it, Galleria degli Uffizi, italic=no, ) is a prominent art museum located adjacent to the Piazza della Signoria in the Historic Centre of Florence in the region of Tuscany, Italy. One of the most important Italian museums ...

, where he is depicted with a cup in his hand and a scroll with the inscription: "Hinc Hilaritas"; * ''Two Peasants' Heads'' at the

Pinacoteca di Bologna The National Art Gallery of Bologna (''Pinacoteca Nazionale di Bologna'') is a museum in Bologna, Italy. It is located in the former Saint Ignatius Jesuit novitiate of the city's University district, and inside the same building that houses the ...

; * ''Philosopher'' in the Pinacoteca di Feltre; * ''Old Head'' at the

Correr Museum The Museo Correr () is a museum in Venice, northern Italy. Located in St. Mark's Square, Venice, it is one of the 11 civic museums run by the Fondazione Musei Civici di Venezia. The museum extends along the southside of the square on the upper ...

; * ''Medea'' at the Accademia dei Concordi in Rovigo; * ''Maiden with a Turban'' in the Braunschweig Museum. He shares the same name with the younger brother of

Bernardo Bellotto Bernardo Bellotto (c. 1721/2 or 30 January 172117 November 1780), was an Italian urban landscape painter or ''vedutista'', and printmaker in etching famous for his ''vedute'' of European cities – Dresden, Vienna, Turin, and Warsaw. He was ...

, a Venetian

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 ...

painter, nephew of

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 ...

. This Pietro was born on 22 March 1725 in Venice, and after collaborating with the two painters above, moved to

Toulouse Toulouse ( , ; oc, Tolosa ) is the prefecture of the French department of Haute-Garonne and of the larger region of Occitania. The city is on the banks of the River Garonne, from the Mediterranean Sea, from the Atlantic Ocean and from Par ...

, France, where he was active in the local Royal academy, as well as in Nantes (1755,1768), Besançon (1761), Lille (1778-1779), and Paris. In France, he was referred, by a number of names, including ''le Sieur Canalety'' and ''Pietro Bellotti di Caneletty''. He is also referred as Belloti, Belloty, Beloty, or Bellottit. He died in France before 1805.Ca Rezzonico biography
prepared for exhibition: ''Pietro Bellotti. Un altro Canaletto'' (December 7, 2013 to April 28, 2014, Ca’ Rezzonico – Museo del Settecento veneziano.

Bibliography

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References

1625 births 1700 deaths 17th-century Italian painters Italian male painters 18th-century Italian painters Painters from Venice Italian Baroque painters 18th-century Italian male artists {{Italy-painter-17thC-stub