Die Etsch in Verona

c. 1744

Son born: Lorenzo Bellotto

1744

Works in Lombardy for Count Antonio Simonetta

From 1743 Bellotto travelled through northern Italy, returning to Venice only occasionally, and in 1744 he worked in Lombardy for Count Antonio Simonetta. Collectors often mistook his landscapes of those years for works by the more famous Canaletto, and vice versa.

1745

At the court of Charles Emmanuel III in Turin

Bellotto worked in Turin at the court of Charles Emmanuel III, King of Sardinia and Duke of Savoy; in these years he also visited Verona several times. His View of Turin with the Palazzo Reale and View of the Old Bridge over the Po in Turin (Galleria Sabauda) date from 1745.

1747

Moves to Dresden at the invitation of Augustus III

At the end of 1746 Augustus III, Elector of Saxony and King of Poland and a great lover of Venetian painting, invited Bellotto to Dresden, and in July 1747 the painter moved there with his wife and son. He was appointed court painter, probably through the mediation of Francesco Algarotti, at a salary of 1,750 thalers a year.

1747–1757

Post: court painter

1748–1752

The King and Queen stand godparents to his daughters

Marks of the court's high esteem included a gold snuffbox and the fact that the four daughters born to Bellotto between 1748 and 1752 had the royal couple, members of the princely house and Count and Countess von Brühl as godparents.