For art's sake
Sir: Simon Courtauld is quite right (Arts, 14 September) that we should go to Dres- den, see that magnificent city and help to restore its glory. However, the bombing of Dresden and the horrific loss of life there had to do with its rail, road and river con- vergences, not punishment. It was a similar set of circumstances which resulted in Wiirzburg and other German centres of our European civilisation being carpet-bombed.
The curious suggestion that the Allies' calculated efforts were vandalism — both gratuitous and pointless — contrasts with the survival of St Paul's from the attentions of the Luftwaffe, V1 and V2 rockets. The expression of Dr Frankland's qualms, and for that matter the exposure of Sir Pere- grine Worsthorne's hair-shirt (The unasked question about the Cold War'), in the same issue, make limited sense as ethi- cal arguments. We should heed the civilised call for us to help rebuild the Frauenkirche and see Dresden's masterpieces, but not for the expiation of our sins or those of our fathers.
Also, the `Canaletto' pictures in and of Dresden are by his nephew, Bernardo Bel- lotto, who sometimes called himself Canaletto. In 1748, Canaletto was painting scenes along the Thames while Bellotto was beside the Elbe. The suggestion that Canaletto was an impostor was made at about that time. To counter it, he adver- tised the work he did of The Old Horse Guards from St James's Park' and invited people to come and watch him paint. Sir Andrew Lloyd Webber bought that picture for a fortune a few years ago.
Charles Hill
Metropolitan Police Service, Belgravia Division, Buckingham Palace Road, London SW1
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