Lot 1110 Dα

The exhibition Ca'Rezzonico in the Venetian Museum of 18th century art, was the first to shed light on the life and work of the painter Pietro Bellotti (1725 - 1805). Not to be confused with the 17th century portrait and genre painter of the same name, the Bellotti referred to here was the younger brother of Bernardo Bellotto, called Il Canaletto, and the nephew of Antonio Canal, also called Canaletto - the two greatest veduta painters of the era. As with most Venetian painters of the settecento, these three also travelled throughout Europe in search of patrons: Antonio Canal moved to London and Bernardo Bellotto moved to Dresden in 1747, where he remained for the majority of his life. His younger brother Pietro Bellotti is recorded in Toulouse in 1749, and may also have stayed in Dresden for a time as he based several of his own works on his brother's paintings and engravings. Two further views of Dresden are today attributed to Pietro Bellotti: “Dresden with the Augustusbrücke Seen From the Right Bank of the Elbe” (61 x 88 cm) and “The Neue Marktplatz Seen from the Judenhof” (both Rafael Valls, London).
The viewpoint used by Bellotti for this work is the same as that chosen by his older brother Canaletto for “Dresden from the Left Bank of the Elbe” of 1748 (Dresden Gemäldegalerie Alter Meister). The only variation in the motifs is that the spire of the Catholic Hofkirche is still encased in scaffolding in Canaletto's piece, indicating that Bellotti probably painted this work after that of his brother. This could allow for one of two theories: Either that Bellotti was also in Dresden in 1748 / early 1749, or that he later “updated” his brother's earlier work.