Visit 18th-century Venice, London, Vienna, and Dresden through the eyes of two influential artists of the times: Canaletto and Bellotto.
- Hosted at the Kunsthistorisches Museum
- Glorious cityscapes placed in an enlightening context
- 32 paintings include prestigious loans
- Time slot needed along with a museum entrance ticket
- Runs Mar 24 – Sept 26, 2026
- See also:
Around Europe…
(Venice: The Bacino di San Marco from San Giorgio Maggiore; Canaletto (1697–1768); 1735/44; oil on canvas, 129,2 × 188,9 cm; Wallace Collection, London © Wallace Collection, London, UK / Bridgeman Images)
A picture may be worth a thousand words, but those words might still be inaccurate. While we wring our hands and moan about falsified photos online in 2026, well…ever was it so.
Take the cityscapes of Vienna, Venice, London, and Dresden painted by Bernardo Bellotto and Giovanni Antonio Canal (known as Canaletto) in the 1700s.
An exhibition at the Kunsthistorisches Museum demonstrates how these masterful and influential depictions of city life and architecture sit at the interface between an objective record and an artificial construct.
The artists married realism with wishful thinking, compositional flexibility, the prevailing zeitgeist, and the preferences of their customers. The latter included monarchs understandably keen to see paintings that emphasised their position and reflected well on their rule.
(View of the exhibition © KHM-Museumsverband; photo: Jakob Gsöllpointner)
Paintings rich in detail and spectacle often portray a harmony, for example, that studiously avoids any hint of social tension. Notwithstanding the occasional worked bent double under the burden of their toil.
The works represent a truth, rather than the truth: Instagram influencers have inherited a longstanding artistic tradition.
Of course, the subjectivity displayed on canvas adds to the value of the artistic expertise on show, since such paintings tell us much about the times, places, and sociopolitical context.
Canaletto and Bellotto’s works and biographies offer insight into life, conflict, and the business of art in the 18th century…so the exhibition contains more than “just” the chance to simply revel in the skill and artistry of two greats who were uncle (Canaletto) and nephew (Bellotto).
As regards that skill and artisty, I was much taken by the detail and complexity in the paintings: see, for example, the rigging and masts in Canaletto’s c. 1730 The River degli Schiavoni in Venice. Although Canaletto seems less keen on giving rowers as much love and attention as he gave boats and buildings.
(The Liechtenstein Garden Palace in Vienna, seen from the Belvedere; Bellotto (1722–1780); 1759/60; oil on canvas, 99,8 × 158,5 cm © LIECHTENSTEIN. The Princely Collections, Vaduz–Vienna)
Best of all, we can indulge in a form of time travel. To Dresden of 1750, for example. To London of the 1740s and 1750s. Or to the Freyung in 1760 Vienna before all of the new palais buildings appeared.
You might view Bellotto’s 1759/1760 painting of the Liechtenstein Garden Palace, then take a 30+ minute walk to the same location as it now looks in the 21st century.
Views of Schönbrunn palace from the mid 1700s always fascinate. You can see the old maze, for example, and the countryside that used to surround this summer retreat before Vienna swallowed it all up in urban expansion.
The exhibition draws on the Kunsthistorisches Museum’s own extensive collection but also loans from such prestigious sources as the British Museum, the Wallace Collection or the Princely Collections of Liechtenstein.
Dates, tickets & tips
Enjoy the cityscapes of the past from March 24th to September 6th, 2026. You’ll need a time slot to view the exhibition. This can be allocated when purchasing a museum entrance ticket or booked separately if you already have a ticket*.
The time slot only applies to when you can go into the special exhibition. You don’t have any restrictions (other than opening times) on how long you can stay.
If you enjoy Canaletto and Bellotto, you might also consider a visit to Lower Belvedere for their Ferdinand Georg Waldmüller exhibition (runs until June 14th, 2026). It features lovely 19th-century landscapes by Waldmüller and a few contemporaries such as Constable and Corot.
How to get there
See the travel tips on my main Kunsthistorisches Museum page. The location is very central, just off the main city centre Ring boulevard.
Address: Burgring 7, 1010 Vienna