The Belvedere from Gesehen, Vienna 1759

Bernardo Bellotto made this oil on canvas painting of Vienna sometime in the mid-18th century. Bellotto's meticulous brushwork captures the textures of the city's architecture. Think of the labor involved in constructing the buildings that Bellotto depicts. The stone, brick, and plaster required to build such a grand metropolis would have employed thousands of people: quarrymen, brickmakers, plasterers, and more. Bellotto also pays close attention to the gardens in the foreground, depicting the plants in exquisite detail. These gardens, too, would have required a great deal of labor to create and maintain. In fact, the gardens would have been designed with the same level of skill and expertise as the buildings themselves. Paintings like this offer us a glimpse into the lives of both the wealthy elite who commissioned them, and the working classes whose labor made their lifestyles possible. By looking closely at the materials and processes involved in creating both the painting and the world it depicts, we can gain a deeper understanding of the society in which it was made.