Bernardo Bellotto. On the 300th Anniversary of the Painter’s Birthday
23 September 2022 - 10 January 2023
To celebrate the 300th anniversary of Bernardo Bellotto’s (also known as Canaletto) birthday, Staatliche Kunstsammlungen in Dresden and the Royal Castle in Warsaw – two museum establishments having the largest number of the artist’s works in their collections - are joining efforts to organise an exhibition presenting the creative path and the achievements of one of the most famous 18th century vedutistas.
Attention. Due to high attendance accompanying the free visiting hours in November, we encourage you to purchase tickets for the exhibition online, which allows you to avoid the queue.
Two incarnations of the exhibition that will be initially presented in Dresden’s Gemäldegalerie (May to August 2022), and later in the Royal Castle in Warsaw (23 September 2022 to January 2023) have been prepared. They will differ in content, but selected works will be showcased in both museums.
The exhibition will include pictures, graphics and drawings that are most characteristic of Canaletto's respective creative periods. The first part will comprise works from Bellotto’s youth years spent in Venice and from his travels to other Italian cities: Florence, Milan, Rome and Verona. The second part will be devoted to the artist's stay in Dresden, where he spent more than 20 years working at the Wettins’ court. This period included a hiatus, as following the outbreak of the Seven Years’ War in Europe, Bellotto was forced to seek employment in Vienna and Munich. The painter spent his last creative years in Warsaw, working for King Stanislaus Augustus and representatives of the Polish aristocracy. An ensemble of 22 vedutes presenting the city of Warsaw and its vicinity (being the largest collection of Bellotto’s works in existence) may be admired, until this day, at the Royal Castle in Warsaw, in a room designed specifically to the order of the Polish king.
The exhibition shown in Warsaw will include Bernardo Bellotto's works originating, inter alia, from the National Gallery and the British Museum in London, Kunsthistorisches Museum in Vienna, J.P. Getty Museum in Los Angeles, Fitzwilliam Museum in Cambridge, Manchester Gallery of Art, Museo Capodimonte in Naples, Pinacoteca del Castello Sforzesco in Milan, Musei Reali in Turin and Gemäldegalerie in Dresden.
A comprehensive scientific catalogue will accompany the exhibition, comprising essays by the greatest experts on Bellotto’s works, as well as notes describing the individual pieces, drawn up by their curators/owners. The catalogue will be published in English, German and Polish.
Exhibition curators: Artur Badach, PhD, Magdalena Królikiewicz, the Royal Castle in Warsaw
Buy a ticket>
Attention! Pre-sale of tickets for the exhibition at a promotional price continues until the end of August:
regular rate: 30 PLN, reduced rate: 20 PLN
Prices after September 1st:
regular rate: 40 PLN, reduced rate: 30 PLN
Summary of the official opening:
The exhibition entitled Bernardo Bellotto. On the 300th anniversary of the painter's birthday has been co-financed by the Ministry of Culture and National Heritage.
