Bernardo Bellotto

"Bellotto's urban scenes have the same carefully drawn realism as his uncle's Venetian views but are marked by heavy shadows and are darker and colder in tone and colour."

View ofWarsawfrom thePragabank, painted 1770.

ColonelPiotr Königsfelsteaching PrinceJózef Poniatowskihow to ride, 1773

Bernardo Bellotto(1721 or 1722– 17 October 1780) was anItalianurbanlandscapepainterorvedutista,andprintmakerinetching.Today, he is mostly remembered for hisveduteof European cities (Dresden,Vienna,TurinandWarsaw). He was the pupil and nephew ofCanalettoand sometimes used the latter's illustrious name, signing himself as Bernardo Canaletto. In Germany and Poland, Bellotto called himself by his uncle's name, Canaletto.

In his paintings, Bellotto paid great attention to the way he represented works of architecture and how the light illuminated the scene. It is plausible that Bellotto, and other Venetian masters ofvedute,may have used thecamera obscurain order to achieve superior precision of urban views.

Related pages

• List of Italian painters