Bernardo Bellotto

Bernardo Bellotto was an Italian painter famous for his detailed city views, known as vedute. Born in Venice in 1721, he trained under his uncle, the great view painter Canaletto, and adopted so much of his style that the two are sometimes confused. Bellotto even used his uncle's name at times, which has muddled the record of who painted what.

Unlike Canaletto, he spent much of his career in northern Europe, painting sweeping, precise views of Dresden, Vienna, and Warsaw for royal patrons. His Warsaw scenes were so accurate that they were later used to help rebuild parts of the city after wartime destruction. Bellotto's cool light and sharp detail make his cityscapes both beautiful pictures and valuable historical records.