Bulletin 9-10 (V:1-2), 1967

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Bernardo Bellotto's Venetian Period (1738-1743)

by Professor Terisio Pignatti, Vice-Directore
Musei Civici Veneziani

Pages 1 | 2 | 3 | 4

Notes

1 For a long time I have been following with admiration Kozakiewicz's research on Bellotto's work published up to now only in part in catalogues of various exhibitions and in several articles (see. S. Kozakiewicz, "La Mostra del Bellotto", Arte Veneta, 1964, p. 240-247; Bernardo Bellotto gennant Canaletto, [Wien, 1965]), and I do not intend to enter into details of the field covered by my colleague. However, in the spirit of friendly collaboration, having mentioned the matter to him, I find that it would not be a bad idea to submit my views for a more thorough verification by scholars interested in the problems of eighteenth-century Venice.

2 P. Orlandi - P. Guarienti, Abecedario Pittorico...(Venezia, 1753), p. 101.

3 D. F. von Hadeln, Die Zeichnungen von Antonio Canal... (Wien, 1930), p. 31; H. Fritzsche, Bernardo Bellotto...(Burg
b. M.1936), p. 132.

4 W. G. Constable, Canaletto (Oxford, 1962), p. 319.

5 S. Kozakiewicz, Arte Veneta, 1964, p. 241.

6 T. Pignatti, Disegni Veneti del Settecento (Roma, 1965), pp. 202-203.

7 S. Kozakiewicz, Bernardo Bellotto, (Wien,1965), pp. 12-14; R. Pallucchini, "L'arte del Bellotto", in Venezia e la Polonia (Venezia-Roma, 1965), pp. 68- 71.

8 W. G. Constable, "Canaletto and Bellotto in Rome", The Burlington Magazine, 1925, p. 213.

9 I received a photo (Fiorentini, 1710) reproduced in Arte Veneta, 1966, p. 220, plate 262, from R. Pallucchini, with many helpful and valuable suggestions.

10 T. Pignatti, II quaderno dei disegni del Canaletto (Milano, 1958); C. L. Ragghianti, "Procedimento del Canaletto", Selearte, No.42 (1958), pp. 33-49; D. Gioseffi, Canaletto (Trieste, 1959).

11 W. G. Constable, Canaletto (catalogue of the exhibition), Toronto - Ottawa - Montreal, plates 16, 17, 26, 27 (1964 / 1965).

12 Constable, Canaletto (Oxford 1962), plates 56, 147, 67, 272.

13 This was also confirmed by the fact that the two canvases had been classified "after 1728" (date determined by the onion shape of the San Giorgio bell-tower) in the catalogue, op. cit., p. 17.

14 The Piazzetta Looking South by Canaletto at Windsor must have been painted before 1728 because the campanile had not been changed. See Constable, Canaletto (catalogue, plate 55).

15 When W. G. Constable heard of my conclusions he wrote to me. "I entirely agree that these seem to make a sequence or set...Your idea that they may be by Bellotto seems to me very reasonable...".

16 The many exchanges of ideas which I have had with Dr Stolow, the Director of the National Conservation and Research Laboratory of the National Gallery of Canada, and the Chief Curator, Dr Hubbard, have been most valuable for my research. The excellent photos of details reproduced here are due to Dr Hubbard.

17 Constable, Canaletto (Oxford, 1962), plate 55.

18 Since Zuccarelli painted the figures in the Parma works it can be confirmed that they were painted about 1742. A curious link can be found between these verified works and the four in question since the couched lion in Bellotto's Roman Capriccio in Parma is a reversal of the lion in Ottawa's Arsenal.

19 Fritzsche, Bernardo Bellotto, pp. 107-108.

20 At the exhibition of I Vedutisti Veneziani del Settecento (18th century Venetian Landscape Painters), held in Venice during the summer of 1967, the proposition regarding Bellotto's Venetian period was fully accepted. The Ottawa painting Piazzetta Looking North is exhibited as No. 85 and attributed to Bellotto (P. Zampetti, I Vedutisti Veneziani del Settecento [Venezia, 1967], pp.186-188).

First printed in Arte Veneta, vol. XX, 1966, pp. 218-229.

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