Curator’s Talk: Bellotto : The Königstein Views Reunited

Useful online lecture form the National Gallery introducing us to the new exhibition at the gallery reuniting five pictures of Königstein by Bernardo Bellotto from 1756-8.

Letizia Treves, the curator of the show, talked us through the life of the artist who was the nephew of Canaletto and trained with him. In fact Bellotto’s nickname also became Canaletto and there is sometime confusion over their works. She showed us some of his earlier work from Venice, Turin and Florence.

She explained how he moved to Dresden and was commissioned to paint the city by Augusts III, the Elector of Saxony, including these views of the fortress which were possibly never delivered due to the Seven Years War.

Finally she talked us through the five pictures, pointing out some the finer details and explaining the function of some of the buildings.

I really look forward to going to this show particularly now I know more about it.

 

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