Ippolito Caffi

Ippolito Caffi painted views of Venice and Rome, but not the sunny postcard kind. He liked night scenes, fireworks, festivals by torchlight, fog and falling snow, and he found new viewpoints on familiar places. He took the view painting tradition of Canaletto and made it moodier and more modern.

He was born in Belluno in 1809, trained in Padua with his cousin Pietro Paoletti and studied perspective at the Venice Academy. From 1832 he was based mainly in Rome, where his Last Hour of Carnival in Rome was so popular he painted dozens of replicas. He was also a committed patriot, took part in the 1848 revolution in Venice and painted scenes of the Risorgimento. He died in 1866 when the warship Re d’Italia sank at the Battle of Lissa. Ca’ Pesaro in Venice holds a large group of his works.

Snow and Fog on the Grand Canal shows him at his best: a familiar view, turned soft and mysterious by weather.