Bernardo Bellotto's unknown view of Munich

The discovery of an unknown replica of "A View of Munich from Gasteig Hill" in a private collection, enables us, thanks to the confrontation with the known versions from Munich (Residence) and Washington (National Gallery of Art, Samuel H. Kress Foundation), to trace more thoroughly the creative process of Bernardo Bellotto, called Canaletto. After the research on the authorship and dating of the newly discovered painting, the author concludes that it is painted in Dresden in the years 1762-67 by Bernardo Bellotto himself, from the drawing prepared in 1761 for the first view created for the Residence in Munich. Among dozens of the townscapes which are included in Bellotto's oeuvre, the views of Munich and Warsaw are conspicuous for their exceptional treatment of the subject, which was remarkable not only for Bellotto's works but which is absolutely unique in the whole contemporary history of townscape painting.