Bernardo Bellotto. Paintings from the Royal Castle in Warsaw
In 1767, Bernardo Bellotto was a successful painter, his fame had spread north of the Alps and he had worked at length in the city of Dresden. Summoned to St. Petersburg, on his way the artist stopped at Warsaw. That led to a meeting that was destined to change his life. Bellotto never left the city again, the sovereign Stanislas Augustus Poniatowski invited him to decorate the castle of Ujazdòw. Only one year later he was appointed court painter, a position which he held until his death, in Warsaw, in 1780. In the years he spent there he painted 26 views, which show his artistic maturity and reveal a completely new technical skill and adherence to the naturalistic element.
The exhibition devoted to Bernardo Bellotto, held in the Salle de la Chapelle, in the Louvre Museum, is one of a series of events dedicated to Italian art.
On display are the Paintings from the Royal Castle in Warsaw, one of the most striking of which is the "View of Warsaw with the Vistula from the suburb of Praga", an impressive canvas presenting a blend of nature and the urban environment: the court painter has the same features as Bellotto, next to him are his son and the king. Realistic precision is a distinctive character of these works, setting the artist apart from the stylistic manner of his master Canaletto. The views with their clear, linear and transparent, skies are so precise that they were of precious assistance in the reconstruction of the old town centre of Warsaw, after the Second World War. In fact, some of the paintings in the exhibition were compared with photographs of the city both before and after the bombing.
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Bernardo Bellotto. Paintings from the Royal Castle in Warsaw
Louvre Museum, Sully Wing, first floor, Salle de la Chapelle, Paris
till January 10th 2005
Open: every day from 9.00 am to 5.30 pm
and on Wednesdays and Fridays from 9.00 am to 9.30 pm
Closed on Tuesdays
ticket:
full admission 8.50 euro
concession 6.00 euro
Link
Official website
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