Titled Bernardo Belloto on the 300th anniversary of the painter's birthday, the exhibition charts the creative path and achievements of one of the most celebrated veduta or cityscape painters of the 1700s.
It is the first such display in Poland, showing all the stages of the Italian artist’s life and comprising 150 artworks, including paintings, graphics and drawings.
Portraitist of Warsaw
Bernardo Bellotto, known as Canaletto, is best recognised in Poland as the portraitist of Warsaw. He was one of the leading artists in the court of Poland’s King Stanislaus II Augustus.
Bellotto or, as he chose to call himself in Poland, Bernardo Canaletto, represented a very fashionable trend in 18th century painting: the portraits of cities.
The exhibition in the Polish capital is part of a joint project by the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden, eastern Germany, and the Warsaw Royal Castle - two museum establishments boasting the largest number of artworks by Bellotto/Canaletto.
The show first ran from May till August in Dresden’s Gemäldegalerie. From Friday, September 23, it will continue in the Warsaw Royal Castle.
Bellotto/Canaletto art from London, Vienna, Los Angeles, Warsaw
Audiences will get a chance to view Bernardo Bellotto's art from the National Gallery and the British Museum in London, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, J.P. Getty Museum in Los Angeles and of course the National Museum in Warsaw, as well as the Warsaw Royal Castle’s own very rich collection.
Bellotto/Canaletto’s best known work is the ensemble of 22 vedute presenting the city of Warsaw and its vicinity.
Originally commissioned by King Stanislaus II Augustus, it is the largest collection of Bellotto/Canaletto paintings in existence.
The Italian artist’s other notable achievements include 1778’s The Election of Stanislaus Augustus and the painted decoration of Warsaw’s Ujazdów Castle.
Bellotto/Canaletto served as the court painter to the King in Warsaw from 1768. He remained in the city for the rest of his life, passing away in 1780.
The exhibition at Warsaw Royal Castle runs until January 8, 2023.
Radio Poland’s Agnieszka Bielawska has this report.
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