Cavaliere Ippolito Caffi

Ippolito Caffi (Italian, 1809-1866) Rome from the Pincio signed 'CAFFI' (lower right); and signed and dated 'Ip. o CAFFI/1846' (on the reverse) oil on canvas 10 x 15 5/8 in. (25.4 x 39.7 cm.) Painted in 1846. Anonymous sale; Sotheby's, Paris, 20 October 2005, lot 67. Acquired at the above sale by the present owner. The present lot is the most accomplished of a small series of Roman views painted from the public park on the Pincio by Caffi in 1846. It was possibly painted as a companion piece to a work of similar dimensions, dated 16th June, showing the Pincio in the early morning (fig. 1). Caffi was one of the most accomplished and peripatetic vedutisti of his age. Made acutely aware of the international demand for paintings in this genre by the large number of expatriate artists working in Rome and Venice, with whom he shared a strong sense of light and an affinity for working sur le motif, Caffi nevertheless ploughed a very independent furrow which combined a loose, impressionistic touch with an almost documentary sense of time and place. This painting was executed very shortly after the long trip that Caffi undertook to North Africa and the Near East in 1843-44, during which he filled countless sketchbooks with drawings of the sites and people he encountered. Many of these were worked up into paintings and exhibited to great acclaim in Rome in 1844 and 1845. Caffi's Orientalist experience honed his sense of light and of topography, which he brought to bear in this timeless view of the Eternal City. The scene here is bathed in an ethereal evening light and is enlivened by the modish fashions of the figures on the terrace. The suffused atmosphere, soft colours and figures seen from behind (in particular the lone nun standing on the right), lend the composition an unusally Romantic character; it is particularly similar to views of Dresden by moonlight by the Danish artist Johan Christian Dahl, executed at around the same time.

Ippolito 'Cavaliere' Caffi (Italian, 1809-1866) Figures at the Pantheon, Rome; and Trajan's Column, the Forum, Rome the first signed and indistinctly inscribed 'Caffi.dip...' (lower right); the second signed and inscribed 'Caffi.dip.' (lower left) pencil and watercolour on paper 9 1/8 x 13 7/8 in. (23.2 x 35.2 cm.) a pair (2)

LOT 85 IPPOLITO CAFFI BELLUNO 1809 - 1866 LISSA VIEW OF THE TIBER WITH CASTEL SANT' ANGELO; VIEW OF THE ROMAN FORUM WITH THE ARCH OF CONSTANTINE AND THE TEMPLE OF VENUS AND ROME Quantity: 2 View of the Roman Forum signed lower left: Caffi a Roma a pair, both oil on paper each: 16 3/4 by 13 1/2 in.; 42.5 by 34.3 cm.

Ippolito Caffi (Italian, 1809-1866) The Colosseum signed 'Caffi' (lower right); and dated 1838 (on the reverse) oil on paper laid down on canvas 14½ x 22½ in. (37 x 57 cm.) Lot Notes We are grateful Dr. Annalisa Scarpa for confirming theattribution to Caffi on the basis of a photograph. The work will beincluded in her forthcoming catalogue raisonné on theartist.

measurements note 9 by 13 in.; 23 by 33 cm. DESCRIPTION signed and dated lower right Caffi/Nizza 21.12.51 and inscribed on the reverse of the canvas Nizza. Panorama veduto da Villa franca Caffi 21 Dicembre 1851 oil on canvas PROVENANCE With Hazlitt, Gooden & Fox, London; Giorgio Marsan and Umberta Nasi, Turin, London and Corfù. CATALOGUE NOTE This beautiful view of Nice, as seen from Villefranche to the east, was painted in 1851 when it was still a part of the Kingdom of Sardinia. Caffi seems to have been particularly inspired by the beauty of this area. He first visited in 1849 and returned in 1851, painting this work and numerous other views of Nice and its environs.1 By this time, Caffi had already achieved fame as a vedutista and had published a textbook on perspective.2 His early training was in Belluno, where he was born, and in Padua. From 1827-31 he studied in Venice at the Accademia di Belle Arte before moving to Rome. In addition to his mastery of perspective, Caffi took great interest in capturing the effects of light and atmosphere, as evidenced in this small, luminous work. He was also intrigued by the effects of artificial and lunar light and painted numerous nocturnal scenes. A nocturnal view of Nice, dated 1852, is the collection of Ca' Rezzonico, Venice.3 Note on the Provenance: Umberta Nasi was the granddaughter of Giovanni Agnelli, the founder of Fiat. She and her husband, Giorgio Marsan, were avid collectors with homes in Turin, London and Corfu. Among their paintings collection, topographical views were a major theme and they had a particular affinity for depictions of the Mediterranean landscape such as the present lot. 1. See Ippolito Caffi, Luci del Mediterraneo, exhibition catalogue, Belluno, Palazzo Crepadona, October 1, 2005-January 22, 2006 and Rome, Palazzo Braschi, February 15-May 2, 2006. 2. Lezioni di prospettiva pratica, 1835. 3. Martini collection, Inv. 220, oil on paper laid down on canvas, 19.5 by 26.6 cm.