BERNARDO BELLOTTO was lucky to have the mother he did. Whatever her maternal qualities, Fiorenza Domenica Canal happened to be the eldest of the three sisters of Antonio Canaletto, the most famous view painter in Venice and darling of the art-collecting British lordlings making their way around Europe on their Grand Tours. Bellotto was more than talented enough to have made a name for himself in his own right, but having a celebrity uncle certainly helped.
Bellotto’s father, Lorenzo, abandoned his wife and children when they were still young, so his mother’s family became even more important. Not only would Bellotto train in Canaletto’s studio and help him satisfy the growing demand for Venetian scenes, he would later point up the family connection by signing some of his works ‘Bernardo Canaletto’ or ‘Bellotto de Canaletto’. The closeness between the two painters was such that Bellotto became known as ‘Il Canalettino’ (Little Canaletto) and, in northern Europe, where he spent most of his career, simply as Canaletto.
The linking of names was a neat piece of advertising that meant both Bellotto and his patrons could share in the reflected glory of ‘Uncle Antonio’. Although Bellotto was skilled enough to be admitted to the Venetian painters’ guild at only 16, his style was initially so close to his eminent relative’s that there remains a certain amount of confusion as to who painted what. Canaletto taught his nephew how to draw and would use Bellotto’s drawings as the basis for his own compositions (Bellotto himself would make further paintings from them, too). It was a profitable production line.
Denne historien er fra July 21, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Denne historien er fra July 21, 2021-utgaven av Country Life UK.
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Save our family farms
IT Tremains to be seen whether the Government will listen to the more than 20,000 farming people who thronged Whitehall in central London on November 19 to protest against changes to inheritance tax that could destroy countless family farms, but the impact of the good-hearted, sombre crowds was immediate and positive.
A very good dog
THE Spanish Pointer (1766–68) by Stubbs, a landmark painting in that it is the artist’s first depiction of a dog, has only been exhibited once in the 250 years since it was painted.
The great astral sneeze
Aurora Borealis, linked to celestial reindeer, firefoxes and assassinations, is one of Nature's most mesmerising, if fickle displays and has made headlines this year. Harry Pearson finds out why
'What a good boy am I'
We think of them as the stuff of childhood, but nursery rhymes such as Little Jack Horner tell tales of decidedly adult carryings-on, discovers Ian Morton
Forever a chorister
The music-and way of living-of the cabaret performer Kit Hesketh-Harvey was rooted in his upbringing as a cathedral chorister, as his sister, Sarah Sands, discovered after his death
Best of British
In this collection of short (5,000-6,000-word) pen portraits, writes the author, 'I wanted to present a number of \"Great British Commanders\" as individuals; not because I am a devotee of the \"great man, or woman, school of history\", but simply because the task is interesting.' It is, and so are Michael Clarke's choices.
Old habits die hard
Once an antique dealer, always an antique dealer, even well into retirement age, as a crop of interesting sales past and future proves
It takes the biscuit
Biscuit tins, with their whimsical shapes and delightful motifs, spark nostalgic memories of grandmother's sweet tea, but they are a remarkably recent invention. Matthew Dennison pays tribute to the ingenious Victorians who devised them
It's always darkest before the dawn
After witnessing a particularly lacklustre and insipid dawn on a leaden November day, John Lewis-Stempel takes solace in the fleeting appearance of a rare black fox and a kestrel in hot pursuit of a pipistrelle bat
Tarrying in the mulberry shade
On a visit to the Gainsborough Museum in Sudbury, Suffolk, in August, I lost my husband for half an hour and began to get nervous. Fortunately, an attendant had spotted him vanishing under the cloak of the old mulberry tree in the garden.