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Bernardo Bellotto , Italian, 1721-1780

Title

Dresden from the Right Bank of the Elbe, below the Augustus Bridge

Datec.1750

MediumOil on canvas

Dimensions

51.5 x 84 cm

Signedlower centre: Bernard Bellotto dit Canaletto Peintre du Roi.

Credit LinePurchased, 1883

Object numberNGI.182

DescriptionDresden is viewed in morning sunlight, with the Augustus bridge and recently completed Catholic Court Church by the Italian architect Gaetano Chiavari, which partly conceals the old Castle of the Electors. Beyond is the Brühl Terrace and the dome of the Lutheran Church of Our Lady. Bellotto is meticulous in showing details of even the minor
buildings.
ProvenanceCollection M.B. Naryshkin; purchased, Paris, 5 April 1883, M.B. Naryschkine Sale, lot 2 (with NGI.181)Exhibition HistoryBurlington Fine Arts Club, London, 1911

Centenary Exhibition, National Gallery of Ireland, Dublin, October - December 1964

Master European Paintings from the National Gallery of Ireland, Art Institute of Chicago, 6 June - 9 August 1992; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, 19 September - 6 December 1992; Museum of Fine Arts, Boston, 13 January - 28 March 1993; IBM Gallery, New York, 27 April - 26 June 1993

Bernardo Bellotto: European Vedutas, Kunsthistorisches Museum, 14 March - 19 June 2005

Label TextA nephew and pupil of the famous Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto was a renowned painter of so-called vedute (views). He was the highest-paid artist at the court of Frederick-Augustus II in Dresden for more than a decade. This meticulously painted view of Dresden, like its pendant (NGI.181), depicts the impressive Augustus Bridge, with the Catholic Court Church in the right middle ground. The grey, austere architecture contrasts with the warm, earth-toned river bank in the left foreground, which includes local people at work.