Cathy's Art Diary

Delightful exhibition at the National Gallery reuniting Bellotto’s five views of the Königstein fortress just outside Dresden. Painted by Bernardo Bellotto, nephew of Canaletto, for August III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland, in 1756-8 as part of a larger series of 30 views of Dresden and its surroundings. There are three external views of the fortress and two of the interior. They are beautifully displayed at eye level so you can view them easily and take in all the details. The external views are large and sublime but still include lots of details of the people supporting the fortress and surrounding countryside and the internal scenes are full of people and action from women hanging up washing, through soldiers to a beautiful walled garden. I could have looked at these pictures for hours and still found more in them. Closes 31 October 2021 R eviews Guardian Telegraph

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.