Canaretto and Bellotto

About the Exhibition

This exhibition introduces the work of two Venetian painters who traveled Europe in the 18th century, rendering cities with precision and dramatic composition: Canaletto and his nephew Bellotto. Canaletto used the camera obscura, a chemical-optical device, to paint realistic urban landscapes, while at the same time reworking those views to heighten their visual appeal. Bellotto, active in Dresden and Vienna, inherited Canaletto's style but left behind work with its own distinct character. The exhibition sheds light on 18th-century Europe through the careers of these two artists, reflecting the mobility, war, and unease of the period. It comprises 43 works in total, organized into sections themed on the urban landscapes of 18th-century Venice, London, and Vienna. In particular, Canaletto's 1735 work Bacino di San Marco Seen from San Giorgio Maggiore and Bellotto's View of Vienna stand as the exhibition's key works, drawing the eye, and works reinterpreting the landscape under different light and angles greet visitors throughout the galleries.