BERNARDO BELLOTTO Perspective de la Galerie, et du Jardin de son Excellence Mgr. le Comte de Brühl Premier Ministre.
Etching, 1747. 543x842 mm; 21 1/2x33 1/4 inches, wide margins. First state (of 3). Coat-of-arms with a pinecone watermark.
Bellotto (circa 1721/22-1780), was a northern Italian painter or vedutista and printmaker, famous for his etched vedute of European cities such as Dresden, Vienna, Turin and Warsaw. He was the student and nephew of Antonio da Canal, Il Canaletto, and sometimes used his uncle's illustrious name, signing as Bernardo Canaletto. In Germany and Poland, Bellotto simply called himself by his uncle's name, Canaletto, causing some confusion. 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 at this time, may have used the camera obscura in order to achieve superior precision of urban views.
The current etching is similar to Bellotto's oil on canvas view now in the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen, Gemaldegalerie Alte Meister, Dresden, both of which show Dresden from the right bank of the Elbe River with the gallery and garden of the Heinrich, count von Brühl (1700-1763). DeVesme 10.
