Canaletto liked not only well -known cities, but also Pirna – Diepresse.com
Some Veduten Malte Canaletto from the city of Pirna in Saxony, in which the Austrian archduchess Maria Josepha celebrated the start of her wedding.
Dresden from the right bank of the Elbe – what a sound awakens the memory. The masterpiece Canalettos was part of the school material in GDR times. It was exceptionally beautiful to look at. The famous painting traveled through the world as an ambassador for the reconstruction of Dresden until 1984. The picture shows the view below the Augustus Bridge on Dresden, with castle, Frauenkirche and Brühlscher Terrasse, almost realistic as a Vedute. Bernardo Bellotto, who called himself as his uncle Canaletto, succeeded in something unique with the Canaletto view, which one also speaks with the painter’s work with the view of Vienna.
He created an entire Viennese cycle, 13 pictures for Maria Theresia From Freyung to the Dominican Church, he painted Florence, Rome, Warsaw and Venice – and Pirna. This district town in Saxony? Yes, the city on the banks of the Elbe, upstream of Dresden, the only small town is honored under all paintings canaletto and also with a whole cycle of his work. How did that come? It started with a wedding …
Star at the Saxon court
In the Electorate of Saxony, Friedrich August II ruled a great art connoisseur with a preference for Venetian painting. Canaletto, who previously went to Dresden in 1747 with his uncle, the well-known Vedute and Landscape painter Antonio Canal. And remained. The citizen’s son from Italy quickly became the star of the high society at the Saxon court. His annual salary with 1750 valley was considered assets. He painted like a obsessed one and created 14 large -format views of Dresden.
« /> Canaletto’s view of Pirna with the Dohnaian goal. Tom Busch
Then he turned to Pirna, a small town upstream. Had the Elector brought him there? Because Friedrich August II had a romantic reference to Pirna. His father, August, stuck behind it: he had chosen an archduchess for the son as a wife, the Austrian imperial daughter Maria Josepha. After the wedding with the Habsburg woman in Vienna in 1719, lavish festivities were held at the Hofe Dresden for weeks – with the start in Pirna! For that, August traveled there with the court. A procession of splendid gondolas was waiting on the banks of the Elbe. Friedrich August II received his young wife on the marketplace, and Maria Josepha drove to her new home in Dresden in the gold -decorated Kalesche of her father -in -law, August of the strong, in her new home.
That was three years before the birth of Bernardo Bellotto, called Canaletto. In the next two decades, the marriage couple was blessed with many children, Friedrich August II became one of the greatest art patrons of his time and the couple to King and Queen of Poland. Maybe Maria Josepha had raved about the painter of Pirna himself, of baroque views, Gothic towers, Renaissance gables? Or the gentlemen wanted the place of their first steps as a couple to be immortalized on Saxon soil. As it was, Canaletto came to Pirna and created a cycle with eleven veduten, the two goals, the wide alleys, the Sonnenstein fortress, the Sonnenstein, the Schiff gate and the Haus am Markt 7. The years in Saxony are considered the most productive period of the Venetian. He created the most famous work « The marketplace to Pirna » right from the start, 1753 or 1754, in an apartment directly on the market, from the window.
Living masterpiece
In Pirna the masterpiece is kept in memory – in an original way. The famous painting is re -enacted every year as a living canalettobild. With an association, the cultural and tourism company brings the characters from the almost 300-year-old painting to the marketplace. Adults and children from Pirna slip into historical costumes, become hobby actors and extras, market women, dealers, riders. Horses come into the living image, a dog runs. And then time stops. All remain. It is around 1750 in Pirna for a while. Baroque views frame the market. The town hall stands in the middle, next to it the Marienkirche, and in the background the Sonnenstein rises with the castle. A masterpiece that lives.
« /> Pirnas Stadtkirche St. Marien. She too became a motive. Tom Busch
Much still looks like in the famous picture. The old town has been extensively renovated. Magnificent town houses and artistic bikes shape the cityscape. The fountain from the painting can still be seen; Behind it the yellow house where canaletto lived. A café bears its name below the window. A building with late Gothic gable, the house on the market 7, stands against it: As a Canalettohaus, it not only houses the tourism information, but also its famous Pirna view as a large format photo. In addition, his portrait hangs: « It comes from the Berlin painter Christoph Wetzel, as an approach, » says Doris Schubert from the Canaletto Forum Pirna, « Canaletto has painted a lot, but there is no secure self-portrait of him. » For the forum, which was launched by the former director of the State Art Collections in Dresden, Werner Schmidt, Wetzel created a master copy from the « marketplace to Pirna ». It is exhibited in the foyer of the city museum today. Located in a former Dominican monastery, the walls gives a worthy framework for the master copy. Here the size canalettos with its pirna cycle becomes visible: compared to other Veduten, the color is warmer, the color spectrum is more lively.
Of the painter walks
And another portrait of the master can be seen in a green landscape framework: high up on a wall of Schloss Sonnenstein, a bronze medal, manufactured by the sculptor Sorina von Keyserling, was set for the 300th birthday of the painter. Among them, the Canalettoweg runs as a walk.
From Sonnenstein Castle, the view goes over the red roofs Pirnas, to the other Elbe bank. There extends a property over 100 years old, which was designed by the Pirna Architect family of Seidel to an unusual hotel as a showroom: guests of the Laurichhof can buy everything from their apartment, vases, furniture, the whole ensemble. Even wallpapers or curtains can be ordered. The 27 suites are designed to film: « Laurich’s heir », « Blueberry Fields » or « Big in Japan ». « Honey Mohn » moves guests in enchantment, and even Sachsen’s enthusiastic Elector would want to move in in the « Palazzo de Medici » …
Both, Friedrich August II and Maria Josepha, raved not only for Canalettos art, but also for productions and opera. It was none other than Johann Sebastian Bach, who composed a congratulatory cungeon for her 34th birthday from Austria. « Tönet, you timpan! Bach later took over the birthday serenade for the Habsburg native to his Christmas Oratorio. A masterpiece, including this.
Artist in Pirna
Look at: Living Canaletto picture: April 25, 2025, pirna.de
Tip: Guest card mobile: City overnight guests can take a bus, train and ferry free of charge in Saxon Switzerland.
Reside: Design hotel Laurichhof: one to three-room apartments as designer world, restaurant Lazy Laurich, Hauptplatz 4, Pirna, on the other bank of the Elbe, laurichhof.de
