By courtesy of the Electa publishing house we present here the introduction on Bernardo Bellotto and the biography of this artist as contained in the catalogue to the exhibition taking place at the Museo Correr in Venice from 10 February through 27 June 2001.

Among the great protagonists of 18th century Venetian painting Bernardo Bellotto was never to receive either that attention from the critics nor full appreciation on the part of the general public as are then sanctified and simultaneously stimulated by a one-man showing, which focuses not on one aspect, season or theme but spans the entire artistic production in its various developments and different phases, its articulations and, perhaps, contradictions.

The possible reasons for this lack of recognition are many and varied. His relationship with Canaletto; the confusion on the name he adopted in the course of his career, in particular, outside Italy; his long-lasting activity in the various courts and his failure to return to Venice; his facility in assimilating and almost identifying himself with the genus loci be it Saxon, Viennese or Polish; the doubt - finally - on the nature itself of his depiction of views (genre or mannerist, documentation or poetry, technique or imagination): all these factors have caused a sort of lengthy removal of Bellotto and his works from the deep conscience of Venetian art history, otherwise so active in finding and rediscovering small old masters or even perhaps insignificant followers of this or that leader. But of course exceptions and illuminating moments have not been lacking; such as Kozakiewicz with his long militancy for Bellotto; certain exhibition initiatives (the memorable views of Dresden seen fifteen years ago at the Fondazione Cini); recent research (above all, that of Bozena Kowalczyk); and unexpected intuitions, therefore even more welcome (by Roberto Longhi, Giuliano Briganti and Giulio Carlo Argan) make it possible today for us to view Bellotto and his career with greater attention. The objective and documentary data of comforting solidity and perspicacity, and the scores of works that make up this exhibition in its two co-ordinated but not coinciding Venetian and American editions produce a profile on Bernardo Brellotto and his output in all its most striking richness and vivacity.

To these characteristics many other connotations are to be added by which Bellotto's experience is enriched in the same way as the most extraordinary accounts of the journeys that our 18th century explorer-painter was able to conceive and transfer within the visionary dilation of his magical and mysterious canvases, hallucinated and suspended, constructed and dominated by that "oily light", by that "heavy shadow, deeply etched, almost black" - as described by Argan - which make them unmistakable. Many have noticed his almost chameleon-like capacity to identify himself with nature and the characteristics of the places which he was portraying. This most Venetian Bellotto appeared to abandon on the shores of the lagoon the memories of his apprenticeship (conserved for that matter as an insuperable technical instrument, a virtuoso machine of conscience and transcription of the world) to then don those of the never- equalled "portrayer of European cities" (as dubbed by Argan) captured in the distinctive and physical brushstrokes of their shapes and colours.

In the panorama of an artistic diaspora that saw the whole of Europe criss-crossed by the thick network of journeys made by Venetian artists (painters, poets, playwrights, architects ...) Bellotto appears to have been the traveller par excellence, more than Canaletto and Pellegrini, Tiepolo and Rosalba, and more than Goldoni and Sebastiano Ricci. Equalled only by Algarotti, Casanova and Da Ponte.

In his travels, Bellotto brought this singular aptitude into the most intimate fibres of his painting: castles and clearings, city squares and waterways, fortifications and churches, ruins and forests. But if it is true that he seemed to wear the garments of the "portrayer of cities", it is also true that it is impossible to deny the fascination of his anti-arcadian and post-mythological nature which fills and dominates many of his most beautiful canvases. Rivers and waterways without Nereids and woods without fauns, grassy swards without centaurs and fountains minus nymphs: on the one hand, they mark the direct relationship, immediate and necessary with the form and dimension of the territory; on the other, in the parks and gardens re-arranged into the lucid geometry of measurements and shapes, we see accepted and proposed the illuminated and rational ways of a domestic and orderly nature.

The "portrayer of the city" shows himself to be among the greatest interpreters of nature and its shapes, the secrets of which he displays after having investigated their very essence: with amazement and lively participation, in empathy and sharing the humours but also with a vigilant and lucid control of emotions. In fact, an excellent painter of landscape is added to the artist of urban sights.

However, between architecture and landscapes Bellotto sets himself up as a radical and profound modern artist. That same not quantitatively relevant presence of ruins, traces of classical antiquity and archaeological artefacts appears at most as a dutiful tribute to the fashion for ruins and antiquities. And these caprices too appear rather as a taste for experimentation in composition played on the compatibility/incompatibility of styles of architecture, of volumes and shapes. Bellotto's urban 'scapes, no less than his extraordinary dioramas and opticals opened wide on territory and views skimming almost in bird-like flight over rivers and valleys, reveal the lay and scientific modernity of a witness of civilisation.

In this he appears to be in a dimension and with a quality that impose themselves on the observer with an evidence that admits neither response nor reservation.

The exhibition in its two editions, in Venice (Museo Correr, from 10 February through 27 June 2001) and in Houston, has been able to avail itself of the unrepeatable opportunity of loans conceded by important museums with a generosity without precedent and is absolutely the first dedicated to Bellotto in the United States of America. It is also the first complete review dedicated to this artist and his entire production and - albeit retrospectively - brings about that return to Venice which Bellotto did not actually experience in his lifetime.





Biography of Bernardo Bellotto

1722

Born 20 May Bernardo Francesco Paulo Ernesto Bellotto in Venice, in the parish of Santa Margherita, the son of Lorenzo Antonio Bellotto, administrator of the properties of Marc'Antonio Giustinian, Procurator of San Marco, and Fiorenza Domenica Canal, the sister of Canaletto.



1736

Already for some time a pupil in Canaletto's studio.

Prior to June, he draws the Grand Canal alla fondamenta di Santa Chiara, fino alla chiesa di Santa Croce (Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum, AE 2208) and writes a letter on the back to his father.



1738

From this year onwards until 1743, Bellotto is a member of the Fraglia dei pittori.



1739

Probable start of his relationship with Henry Howard, IVth Duke of Carlisle, for whom between 1739 and 1741, he was to produce a series of paintings, four of which are still kept at Castle Howard (Yorkshire).



1740 He paints the Grand Canal da palazzo Foscari e Moro Lin fino alla Carità (Nationalmuseum of Stockholm), commissioned to commemorate the visit to Venice of Freidric Christian, son of the Elector of Saxony and king of Poland Augustus III, who was a guest at Palazzo Foscari from Decmber 1739 to June 1740.

20 November, the secretary of Field Marshal von der Schulenburg is reimbursed with 9 golden sequins for the purchase of four views of Venice by the "nephew of Canaletto".

8 December, he signs the drawing Campo Santi Giovanni e Paolo (Darmstadt, Hessisches Landesmuseum, AE 2218).



1741

5 October, drawing-up of marriage contract on the part of the painter and his future father-in-law Giambattista Pizzorno, made perfect on 2 November.

5 November, marriage of Elisabetta Pizzorno, daughter of Giambattista formerly Zorzi, celebrated in the del Redentore church, witness Count Bonomo Algarotti; investment of part of the bride's dowry (850 ducats) in the Scuola Grande della Misericordia.

Fiorenza, Bernardo Bellotto's mother, prepares a document protecting the painter in which she declares that the family has been abandoned by her husband Lorenzo and that the only goods in her possession are those procured for her by Bernardo who, with his work, maintained her and his brother Pietro, both of them being resident in Bernardo's home. The brother Pietro Bellotto (a painter of views in Toulouse and Nantes) declares before the same notary to have learned the art of painting from Bernardo. In order to continue living with his brother and improve in his profession Pietro signs a pledge to give him one hundred and twenty ducats a year.



1742

Springtime, probable date of his journey to Rome, with stopovers in Florence, Lucca and Livorno.

25 July, Bernardo returns to Venice where the contract with his brother is cancelled.

2 August, the will of his mother Fiorenza who names Bernardo as her heir and entrusts him to take care of his sister, a tertiary at San Francesco della Vigna. 15 October, Bernardo's first son, Lorenzo Francesco, is born in the parish of Santa Marina in Venice.



1743

16 August, he shows two views at the San Rocco exhibition, one of the Campidoglio (Petworth House) and the other of the Chiovere di San Giovanni Evangelista (lost).



1744

Journey to Milan where he paints two views for the Archbishop Giuseppe Pozzobonelli. At Vapario he paints two pictures for Count Antonio Simonetta (Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, and a private collection in Italy), as stated by the writing on the preparatory drawings (Darmstadt, Hessisches Landes Museum, AE 2215 and 2216). At Gazzada he paints the village and the villa of the Perabò brothers (Brera, Milan).

July, his daughter Fiorenza is born.

1745

Bernardo is documented as being among the inhabitants of the parish of Santa Marina, on the Fondamenta Nuove, where for 60 ducats he rents an apartment for his family composed of his mother, wife and two children. He paints two views of Turin (Galleria Sabauda, Turin), for which he is paid in the summer.

12 August, his daughter Fiorenza dies.

29 November, birth of his daughter Francesca Elisabetta, the god-father is Pietro Guarienti.



1746

2 December, birth of his son Giambattista Francesco, god-father Giuseppe Camerata. Probable date of the two great views of Verona (Powis Castle, England, and the National Gallery of Edinburgh, anonymous loan).

1747

5 April, in the name of his father-in-law Giambattista Pizzorno he gains power of attorney to administer the investment of his wife's dowry. Shortly afterwards he leaves for Dresden.

8 May, his son Giambattista Francesco dies in Venice. He signs some paintings and etchings in Dresden.

1748

Frederick Augustus II, elector of Saxony and king of Poland with the name of Augustus III confers on Bellotto the title of court painter, with the annual stipend of 1750 thalers and makes him a present of a tobacco-jar studded with diamonds containing 300 gold louis. During eleven years in Dresden, preceding the outbreak of the seven years' war, the artist paints for the Royal Gallery the series of fourteen large format views of Dresden and eleven of Pirna, and for the prime minister Count Heinrich Brühl repeats the same subjects with thirteen views of Dresden and eight of Pirna, without ever being paid for them. He etches his paintings.

July, he is listed among those "who live in Santa Marina and able to pay a tax for the Ferali", even if the painter is already in Dresden.

24 September, his daughter Maria Anna is christened, god parents Count Brühl and his wife.





1750

4 March, his daughter Maria Anna dies.

4 August, his daughter Maria Josepha Friedrica is christened.



1752

26 August, his daughter Christiana Xaveria is christened.

27 November, his daughter Antonia Federica dies.



1753

26 April, he receives the decree of Frederick Augustus II addressed to the bailiff Crusius at Pirna, for the facilitation of his work in this town.



1754

16 November, his father Lorenzo Bellotto, who is in Dresden, sends a letter to Count Brühl and his wife in which he complains about Bernardo's character and behaviour.



1756

March, the elector of Saxony issues a decree to facilitate the painter in his depicting of the fortress of Königstein.

Between 1756 and 1758, he paints five great views of the fortress.



1757

2 November, his daughter Theresia Francisca Florentia is christened.

1758

5 December, the painter is granted a passport for Bayreuth.

1759

January, the artist with his son Lorenzo arrives in Vienna where he stays for two years, commissioned by the empress Maria Teresa to paint a series of large-size views of the imperial residences, a panoramic view of the city and some medium-size city views. For the chancellor Wenzel Kaunitz and Prince Joseph Wenzel Liechtenstein he paints views of their palaces and gardens.



1760

July, during a Prussian bombardment, the painter's house in Dresden situated in the suburb of Pirna is destroyed and, together with furnishings, he loses works of art and engraving plates, amounting to a value of 50,000 thalers.



1761

4 January, the Empress Maria Teresa writes a letter recommending the painter to Princess Maria Antonia, who is at the court of her brother Joseph Maximilian III in Munich in Bavaria, together with her husband Freidric Christian.

14 January, Bellotto arrives in Munich with another six court painters of the House of Saxony - probably including his son Lorenzo - taking up residence in the best-known hotel in the city, the Aquila Nera in the Kauffingergasse. In less than a year in Munich, he paints a view of the city and two of Nynphenburg for the sovereign Joseph Maximilian III of Bavaria.



1762

Prior to 13 January, Bellotto returned to Dresden. From Warsaw, Count Brühl sends a letter addressed to the painter in Dresden.

October, Bellotto's two patrons, King Augustus III and Count Brühl die. He makes two Allegories (Gamäldegalerie, Dresden) of the political situation in Saxony after the end of the seven years' war.



1764

To the foundation of the Academy of Fine Arts in Dresden, directed by Christian Ludwig Hagedorn (1712-1780) and guided by neo-classical ideas, the painter, by now abandoned, with only the support of the court is nominated "aggregate member for perspective" (teacher of perspective) with the annual stipend of 600 thalers. He brings a law suit in vain against the heir of Count Brühl, requesting payment of the commissioned paintings, the agreed price of which was 200 thalers for each one. He is held responsible for the debts of his son Lorenzo.



1765

He paints the piece for gaining admission to the Academy, the Old City of Dresden on the left bank of Elba with the bridge of Augustus (Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe), with which he takes part in the second Academy exhibition in 1766. 20 December, he requests Hagedorn's permission to go to St. Petersburg for nine months.



1767

26 January, a letter sent from Dresden by the painter Giuseppe Rosa to his colleague Marcello Bacciarelli, the first artist in the Polish court, announces the imminent arrival of Bellotto in Warsaw. Bacciarelli presents Bellotto to Stanislaus Augustus Poniatowski, the king of Poland.

May, the painter and his son are working on the frescoes decorating the castle of Ujazdòw.

27 August, he sends a request to the Dresden Academy to extend his leave which is granted until 31 January 1768.

He then decides to stay on in Warsaw where his family joins him.



1768

The king of Poland confers on Bellotto the title of court painter with the annual stipend of 400 ducats, to which are added 150 for lodgings, 120 for his horse carriage, 40 for firewood and 120 for the theatre. In Warsaw, Bellotto's main work is the series of 26 views of the city and Wilanòw destined for the "Canaletto room" in the Royal Castle.

20 April, in Venice, Bernardo is nominated together with his brothers Michiel and Pietro in the documents relative to hereditary questions after the death of Canaletto. 1st March, the painter Giuseppe Rosa describes the lunatic character of Bellotto in a letter to Bacciarelli.



1769

Together with his son, he signs two paintings of the series of Roman views second to the Piranesi prints destined for the castle of Ujazdòw. His eldest daughter Maria Josepha Friedrica marries the court geographer Hermann Karl Perthées, originally from Dresden.



1770

In the view of Warsaw from the suburb of Praga (Zamek Krolewski, Warsaw) he portrays himself together with the king, his son and son-in-law.

20 October, his son Lorenzo dies. The funeral is paid for by the king and the burial takes place in Warsaw, in the church of the Reformed.



1779

For Count Jòzef Ossolinski he makes a painting representing the Entry into Rome of the Polish ambassador Jerzy Ossolinki (Slesian Museum, Wroclaw), the only painting to be documented in his period in Poland as a commission other than those of the royal house.



1780

He makes a list (Notta) of his works made in the period 1771-1780, indicating their prices and dates.

17 November, Bellotto dies in Warsaw. De Perthèes, his son-in law, announces his death on the same day and the next day Bellotto is buried in the church of the Cappucines in Miodova street.





Biographical Note



Research by various scholars has been dedicated to the Venetian and Italian period of the artist, the first being Fabio Mauroner, whose notes and transcriptions of archive documents, kept in the Biblioteca of the Museo Correr in Venice (Mauroner n.d. [before 1948]), have been transcribed and published by Giorgio Marini (1993). Other studies have been made by BozYena Anna Kowalczyk (1995 and 1999).

The publication of documents relative to Bellotto's time in Dresden is owed for the most part to Moritz von Stübel (1911) and to Hellmuth Allwill Frietsche (1936), while news regarding the period in Warsaw comes principally from Sebastiano Ciampi (1830 and 1839), Barbara Krol-Kaczorowska (1966), Stefan Kozakiewicz (1972) and Elena Bassi (1979).



(traslated by Leonor Dodsworth)

All rights reserved