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The Arts Intel Report

Bellotto: The Königstein Views Reunited

July 29 – Oct 31, 2021
Trafalgar Square, Charing Cross, London WC2N 5DN, UK

Bernardo Bellotto was a court painter to August III—Poland’s 18th-century king and the Elector of Saxony. Bellotto was also the nephew of Giovanni Antonio Canal—the great painter Canaletto. For many years Bellotto was overlooked, hidden in his uncle’s long shadow. But his landscape paintings, panoramic yet detailed, have grown in stature and won admiration. Among the most beautiful are his five paintings of Königstein, an enchanted fortress 25 miles southeast of Dresden. The two-meter works are part of Bellotto’s 30-painting series of Dresden views, all of which are here together for the first time in more than 250 years. —E.C.

Bernardo Bellotto, “The Fortress of Königstein: Courtyard with the Magdalenenburg,” 1756–8 © Manchester Art Gallery, U.K./Bridgeman Images.