B. & Bellotto, L. Bellotto Paintings

Bernardo Bellotto, known also as Canaletto the Younger, was born in Venice in 1721. He was the nephew and pupil of the famous Venetian landscape painter Giovanni Antonio Canal, better known as Canaletto. This relationship significantly influenced Bellotto's career and artistic development. Under his uncle's guidance, Bellotto learned the art of veduta, a highly detailed, usually large-scale painting or, more often, print of a cityscape or some other vista. He became well-known for his precision and ability to capture the light and atmosphere of a place, a skill that made his work highly sought after by patrons across Europe.

Bellotto's career took him far from his Venetian roots, as he worked in various European cities. His travels and commissions began in Italy, but he soon moved north, spending significant time in Dresden, Vienna, Munich, and Warsaw. In 1747, Bellotto was invited to Dresden by King August III of Poland, where he became a court painter. His works from this period are among his most famous, as they meticulously document the city and its architecture with an almost photographic accuracy. These paintings are invaluable historical documents, especially because many of the sites he depicted were later destroyed during World War II.

In the later part of his career, Bellotto worked in Warsaw, where he was appointed court painter to Stanisław August Poniatowski, the last King of Poland. Here, he continued his work as a vedutista, capturing the grandeur of the Polish capital and its surroundings. His paintings from this period are celebrated for their detail and serve as a significant record of Warsaw's 18th-century landscape.

Bellotto's style, although initially influenced by his uncle Canaletto, evolved into a more rigorous and detailed manner. His work is characterized by strong lighting, careful attention to detail, and a high degree of accuracy in the depiction of architecture and landscapes. Bellotto's legacy is that of a master vedutista, whose works provide a window into the past and continue to be admired for their artistic quality and historical value. He died in Warsaw in 1780, leaving behind a body of work that remains highly regarded in the art world today.