Dresden seen from the Right Bank of the Elbe, beneath the Augusts Bridge

The image of the city of Dresden has been recorded for centuries in paintings, prints, photos, as well as on coins and porcelain. It has numerously been reproduced on postcards, coffee pods, wall plates, and medals. No other painting has shaped our "image" of Dresden until the present more than the veduta, which measures 1.33 x 2.37 m and which was created by the Venetian painter Bernardo Bellotto (1722-1780), called Canaletto. Bernardo Bellotto created the painting in 1748. It was his second work in the capital. After he arrived in Dresden in 1747 on the invitation of August III, he was appointed court artist in 1748 by the Elector of Saxony and King of Poland. From 2009 to 2011 the painting was restored. To finance the works on the original painting, the Society of Friends of the Staatliche Kunstsammlungen Dresden "MUSEIS SAXONICIS USUI" initiated the fund raising campaign "For Canaletto" in 2009.