Ippolito Caffi

Private collection, Rome;
From whom acquired by the present owner in 2000.

The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's. This work is in very good condition. The canvas has an old glue lining which is still effective. There is some thinness in the wall on the far side of the forum on the right side that has not been retouched. There are no retouches in the foreground of any note. In the sky, some thinness in the blue shows a few retouches under ultraviolet light. There is a 1 by 3 inch restoration in the lower sky above the sunlit houses on the left side. All of the other retouches in the sky are dots in the upper sky addressing some slight unevenness to the paint layer, especially on the upper left side. The condition is very good and the work could easily be hung as is.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

This sublime view of the Roman Forum, looking South-West, is a superb example of Ippolito Caffi’s mature style. Though unpublished until now, the painting is accompanied by a 2008 letter of expertise by Dr. Annalisa Scarpa.¹ This particular view was clearly favored by Caffi, who painted it with slight variations on at least two other occasions, one example now in a private collection, Rome, and another in the Galleria Ca’ Pesaro, Venice (inv. 1748,1841).² The Rome version has an accompanying pendant, depicting a view of Piazza del Popolo, and the pair were included in the 2005 exhibition dedicated to the artist and curated by Scarpa. The present canvas is almost identical in dimensions to the Rome picture, but here the artist selected a viewpoint slightly further back and to the left. The long, narrow format of both paintings gives them a sense of broad panorama. From this wider angle, however, the monuments have more space to breathe, giving the archaeological scene an increased air of grandeur.

Caffi responded to the rise of photography, a medium of which he was skeptical, by replicating in paint what could not be captured in black and white stills. With variations in light, the artist was able to recreate scenes that transported his viewers, acting not simply as a visual record of the monuments depicted but evoking the very atmosphere surrounding them. It is this very quality, an almost poetic response to his subject matter that so clearly defines Caffi from the previous generation of view painters. Caffi was the epitome of a modern painter, carefully considering new technological innovations and responding in his own medium.

1. A copy of Dr. Annalisa Scarpa’s letter of expertise, dated 17 March 2008, is available from the department upon request.
2. For the Rome version see A. Scarpa, Caffi, Luci del Mediterraneo, exhibition catalogue, Geneva and Milan 2005, pp. 284-285, cat. no. 92, reproduced p. 187.