Friday, November 9, 2018

Bernardo Bellotto - details from his Warsaw paintings I

Salvete Omnes,
I have been itching to visit Warsaw museums to take a closer look at various Warsaw paintings (27 paintings in total, all oil on canvas) by Bernando Bellotto known in Polish Kingdom as Canaletto.
My reasons are simple, these paintings contain multitude of information related to Old Polish material history, eg civilian and military attire and costume, but especially within the scope of my blog  the horse topics:  from Old Polish horses shown profusely (from fine steeds to nags), riding equipment, sumptuous parade carriages to lowly peasant carts.
For example let's take a look at this painting

 showing situated at Krakowskie Przedmiescie street 34  Kościół Wizytek (Church of St. Joseph of the Visitationists) built during a long period of 1720-65 (consecrated in 1763) . This is perhaps a hay market scene, with peasant carts filled to a brim with hay.
going from left to right:
Old Polish horse saddled etc lead by a servant with two dogs by its hind legs


carts with hay and one wagon already empty. note the small size of the horse pulling this cart, also a fragment of a cat with a barrel, perhaps with beer, since beer had been daily drink popular in Poland

a peasant cart with sacks of something (grain?) pulled by small horses (harness off, horses feeding) and a small carriage (Basztarda[Pl.]  diligence[Fr.] or coupe)pulled by a pair of black carriage horses (not very splendorous during those times, when teams of 4 and 6 or more horses were all rage and fashion)


more carts with hay, we see variously colored  small draft horses, in between a servant (most likely) riding a taller horse with a sky blue schabraque . Cart horses harness includes a duga with hołoble ( shaft bows with ) harness - 'chomąto podlaskie' - a typical driving harness in Old Poland.


here it appears that the painter showed what appears to me  a  servant, perhaps a  in his lord's uniform  standing along with a burgher woman, with a fragment of another  carriage (perhaps another coupe?) behind them

Valete!

2 comments:

  1. Chomata - http://www.lucznictwokonne.pl/zurawiejki/kawaleryjskie/regul/instab/t21.html
    http://stajniatrot.pl/texts/mondre/chomata.html

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  2. I forgot to add that the photo of the paintings comes from Wikimedia Commons.. https://commons.wikimedia.org/wiki/File:Bellotto_Visitationist_Church_in_Warsaw.jpg

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