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View of Pirna with the Fortress of Sonnenstein

A work made of oil on canvas.
CC0 Public Domain Designation

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  • A work made of oil on canvas.

Date:

c. 1760

Artist:

Bernardo Bellotto (Italian, 1721–1780)

About this artwork

Well trained by his uncle, Canaletto, Bernardo Bellotto quickly established his own reputation as a gifted view painter. By 1746 he was appointed court painter to the elector of Saxony in Dresden, who commissioned him to produce cityscapes. Bellotto was subsequently asked to create 11 large-scale paintings of the nearby town of Pirna; the present picture is a reduced but otherwise exact replica of one of those celebrated works. Exalted in Bellotto’s cold, crystalline light, the fortress of Sonnenstein presides over the scene from its hilltop. In the left foreground, townsfolk congregate at a small obelisk that bears the arms of Saxony.

Status

On View, Gallery 217

Department

Painting and Sculpture of Europe

Artist

Bernardo Bellotto

Title

View of Pirna with the Fortress of Sonnenstein

Place

Italy (Artist's nationality:)

Date  Dates are not always precisely known, but the Art Institute strives to present this information as consistently and legibly as possible. Dates may be represented as a range that spans decades, centuries, dynasties, or periods and may include qualifiers such as c. (circa) or BCE.

1755–1765

Medium

Oil on canvas

Inscriptions

Inscribed center forground: Haupt... lei... (only partly legible) / 1752 (on a sign beneath the coat of arms of the Elector of Saxony)

Dimensions

49.3 × 79.5 cm (19 3/8 × 31 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Clyde M. Carr Fund

Reference Number

1961.44

IIIF Manifest  The International Image Interoperability Framework (IIIF) represents a set of open standards that enables rich access to digital media from libraries, archives, museums, and other cultural institutions around the world.

Learn more.

https://api.artic.edu/api/v1/artworks/12895/manifest.json

Extended information about this artwork

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email . Information about image downloads and licensing is available here.

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