Bernardo Bellotto (Canaletto)
This motif is available free of charge as a collectable postcard at hosts and information points along this 8th stage of the Malerweg trail.
Born May 20th, 1722 in Venice and died October 17th, 1780 in Warsaw, Canaletto was trained by his famous uncle Antonio Canal, whose pen name he took on. In 1745 he moved from Italy to Munich, in 1746/47 to Dresden and left 1759/60 for Vienna.
In 1770 Bellotto became the royal court painter to Stanislaus II in Warsaw. His vedutas combine picturesque atmosphere with precisely detailed descriptions of high documentary value. In Saxon Switzerland he made a series of views of Pirna and of Königstein Fortress.
The picture of the Pirna market square seen here, in comparison with a photo of the present-day condition of the same place, shows how precisely Bellotto captured the details. He used a “camera obscura” for this effect.
Malerweg trail - 8th stage:
Inspired by the magic of mountains: Irmgard Uhlig
Irmgard Uhlig is a legend. Living to the age of over 100 years – she was born on October 29th, 1910 and died on April 17th, 2011 – she became renowned as a “painter of the mountains”. Her full oeuvre comprises several thousand works – drawings, watercolours, paintings. With the watercolour technique in particular, she reached a high level of proficiency.
From early youth on, she felt attracted to the mountains and was thrilled with hiking and climbing. In her rucksack, she always carried her drawing and painting materials. She did mountain tours in many countries all over the world during her long life but always returned to her much beloved Elbe Sandstone Mountains. She lived in Dresden.
