Studio: international art (86.1923)

BERNARDO BELOTTO CANALETTO
IN VIENNA. BY A. S. LEVETUS.

IN The Studio for January, 1922, there
appeared some reproductions of the
work of Antonio Canale (Canaletto) who
executed a number of views of London in
the mid - eighteenth century. Before
coming to this country he had become
well-known in Venice, particularly among
Englishmen travelling abroad. Antonio
Canaletto’s pictorial records of the Capital,
apart from their very great aesthetic value,
are extremely interesting to the historian
and the topographer. Developments of
building and commerce have, of course,
changed the face of the City to a very
large extent, and it is very pleasant to be
able to visualise the London in which Dr.
Johnson, Goldsmith, Burke and Sir Joshua
worked, talked and foregathered, 0 0

What Antonio did for London, his
nephew Bernardo Belotto (who adopted
his uncle's nickname as a surname) did for
Vienna. The lives of the two present some
striking parallels. Antonio left his own
country and was patronised by the English
aristocracy; Bernardo Belotto likewise
quitted Italy, and was patronised first by
the Court of Dresden and then by that of
Vienna. Both specialised in the painting
of street and city views; both represented
their scenes in the full activity of every-
day life, and both had a certain prosaic
and literal quality. 0 0 0 0

Bernardo Belotto has often been con-
fused with his uncle and teacher, not only
because of their names, but also because
of the similarity between their styles.
Very little is known about him except that
he was born in Venice in January, 1720,
and died in Warsaw in October, 1781.

“THE SCHOTTENKIRCHE IN
VIENNA." OIL PAINTING BY
BERNARDO BELOTTO CANALETTO
123

Vol. LXXXVI. No. 366.—September 1923.