Dresden from the Right Bank of the Elbe, above the Augustusbrücke

This view of Dresden, painted in 1747 by Bernardo Bellotto, shows the city from the right bank of the Elbe, with the Augustus Bridge as the central axis of the composition. Among the recognisable buildings are the Frauenkirche and the Cathedral, which makes the painting a visual record of the city before the damage of the Second World War. The foreground is animated by scenes of everyday life: boatmen on the river, a woman hanging out washing, a horse-drawn cart being unloaded, and a group of men in conversation, one of them dressed in Ottoman costume. A year later Bellotto painted the companion view, taken from below the bridge and looking the other way; both are held in the Gemäldegalerie Alte Meister. Between 1751 and 1753 he made smaller replicas of the two, and other versions exist, some by his own hand and others by followers, whose handling is looser and rougher. Its topographic precision has helped in rebuilding parts of the city.

Painter

Bernardo Bellotto

Date

1747

Medium

oil paint, canvas

Dimensions

132 × 236 cm

Museum

Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden, Dresden

Genre

landscape painting

Depicts

Elbe, Augustus Bridge

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