The Ruins of the old Kreuzkirche, Dresden

On 19 July 1760, during the Seven Years' War, Prussian artillery besieging Dresden set fire to the Kreuzkirche, the old church on the Market Square. The nave and choir burned and fell in, while the stone west tower stayed standing. Bellotto lost his own house in the same shelling, with paintings and etching plates inside. A new church was begun in 1764, and in June 1765, after heavy rain undermined its foundations, part of the old tower collapsed.

This is the scene that followed. The gutted tower stands over everything, with a long ladder up its right side and a tiny figure on the top ledge. Townspeople crowd in from the sunlit houses on the right, and below them the building site is already at work, stacked with cut stone. At the bottom, on blocks meant for the new church, a couple sits close together.