Painting of the Day: Capriccio with Two Bridges and Figures, 1740-1747

Click on image to be capricious.
Capriccio with Two Bridges and Figures
Bernardo Belloto, c. 1747
The Townshend Collection at
The Victoria & Albert Museum

Eighteenth-Century Venetian painter Bernardo Belloto (1721-1780) is best remembered for his association with his famous uncle, the view painter Giovan Antonio Canal, known as being called Canaletto (1693-1768) under whom Belloto studied.

Belloto, in 1747, was summoned to Dresden by Frederick-Augustus II, King of Poland (as Augustus III). For the next twenty years he divided his time between Dresden, Munich and Austria. He made a good reputation for himself with his “capriccios”—elaborate views of fantasy towns and cities which he based on sketches of real places. This capriccio appears to have been inspired by scenery around Italy’s Verona and Padua. This piece was finished between 1740 and 1747 in Venice—before the artist’s move to Dresden. It’s the sort of piece which most appealed to collectors. Indeed, Belloto’s capriccios had a lasting appeal which endured for decades after his death, allowing his works to be included in some of the finest art collections in the world. 

The Reverend Chauncey Hare Townshend
The V&A

This painting was once part of the Townshend Collection, and, owing this, now lives in the V&A with the many, many others collected by the Reverend Townshend. The Reverend Chauncey Hare Townshend (1798-1868) enjoyed a leisurely life of wealth and privilege. Though he took holy orders, he never practiced as a clergyman and, instead, made his vocation the collecting of art and jewelry. Townshend (who for some unknown reason added the extra “h” to his original family name, “Townsend,” after inheriting the family’s vast estates in 1827; also, his first name seems to have no standard spelling--sometimes using an "e" before the "y" and sometimes not) spent much of his time living amongst those of the highest social circle. One of Townshend’s companions described the “Reverend” as a man of “elegant rest, travel, lots of money—and he is always ill and melancholy.” Yet, Townshend’s friends would note, he much enjoyed his collections—mostly watercolors, British and continental oil paintings—the majority of which are landscapes, and the finest jewels in the world. He was also one of the earliest enthusiasts of photography—a passion he shared with Prince Albert, Consort of Queen Victoria. In addition to the enduring beauty of the collections which he left to the V&A, Townshend will forever be immortalized because of his long and intimate relationship with Charles Dickens who dedicated “Great Expectations” to the Reverend. The two spent many hours engaged in a shared interest in “mesmerism.” 

One hour…just one hour. I’d like to be able to pop back to, say, 1835 for just an hour and have tea with those two. I have no doubt that they’d both loathe me intensely.