Dresden Old Town Square from the Schloßgasse

Old Market Square (Altmarkt) viewed from Schloßgasse is surrounded by buildings, with an alternating arrangement of gable- and ridge-fronted townhouses, and overlooked by the tower of the Kreuzkirche (Holy Cross Church) rising high above the rooftops. The oldest church within the city’s walls was first mentioned in the late eleventh-early twelfth century and was then dedicated to St Nicholas. It was renamed the Kreuzkirche in 1388, the new dedication honouring the precious relic, a splinter of wood from the Holy Cross, presented to the church in 1234, and connected to the structure’s remodeling in the Gothic style. After the Reformation, the Kreuzkirche became the city’s principal Protestant church. In 1760, during the Seven Years War, the church was shelled by the Prussian artillery and collapsed, as Bellotto documented in the painting Dresden. Ruins of the Kreuzkirche and print based on it. The church was rebuilt in 1764-1782, and the tower shown by Bellotto would be considerably altered (there were plans for preserving the old tower that had survived the shelling, but it eventually collapsed). In the centre of the composition, right to the church, there is a pavilion called Chaisenhaus: it was erected in 1746 as a municipal sedan chairs “garage". On 26 September 1868, a humorous postcard was issued to celebrate its one hundred-twenty-third anniversary: it can still be found at art auctions. Like Bellotto’s work, it documents the building that was demolished in 1878 following the introduction of the horsecar. Close to the composition’s left edge is the Fountain of Justice, removed in 1888. Like in other vedute from The Views of Dresden series, Bellotto introduces scenes from the city’s busy life and traffic: characters from different social strata and variety of carriages, coaches, and carts.

The featured prints was based on Bellotto’s painting Dresden: Altmarkt from Schloßgasse. It is complemented by a pendant composition: Dresden: Altmarkt from Seegasse. The exact rendering of even minute architectural details and precision in the treatment of perspective and foreshortenings in the depiction of the densely built-up area clearly indicate that the painter probably used a camera obscura. The composition features striking contrasts of shadow cast by the tall buildings surrounding the square and areas bathed in sunlight.

State II/III

keywords: Baroque  |  Bibliothek der Königliche Akademie der Künste, Berlin (institution)  |  Dresden (Germany)  |  fountain  |  German graphics  |  Italian graphics  |  church (architecture)  |  town  |  pavilion (architecture)  |  market square  |  German art  |  veduta