| Bellotto,
Bernardo (b. 1720, Venezia, d. 1780, Warszawa) |
| Italian painter, nephew, pupil, and assistant of Canaletto in Venice. Bellotto left Italy for good in 1747, to spend the rest of his life working at various European courts, notably Dresden and Warsaw, where he died. He called himself Canaletto, and this caused confusion (perhaps deliberate) between his work and his uncle's, particularly in views of Venice. Bellotto's style, however. is distinguished from his uncle's by an almost Dutch interest in massed clouds, cast shadows, and rich foliage. His colouring is also generally more sombre, much of his work being characterized by a steely grey. The best collections of his work are in Dresden (Gemäldegalerie) and Warsaw (National Museum). In the rebuilding of Warsaw after the Second Warld War his pictures were used as guides, even in the reconstruction of architectural ornament. |