The Basilica of San Marco - 19th century school attributed to Ippolito Caffi

Ippolito Caffi (1809–1866), attributed — The Basilica of San Marco under a Setting Sun, circa 1860

Oil on metal, 45 cm x 27.5 cm
Magnificent antique frame measuring 75 cm x 57 cm, 8 cm deep.

This superb painting, beautifully framed, depicts the Basilica of Saint Mark bathed in the low sun of late afternoon, creating a striking effect with warm, contrasting tones. The artist clearly cherished this time of day, as he produced many works using a similar palette between 1858—when he returned to Venice—and his death in 1866.

Ippolito Caffi (1809–1866)

Trained at the Academy of Venice, Caffi’s eventful career led him to spend time in Paris, Naples, London, Spain, and frequently back in Rome and Venice, not to mention a long journey to the East (1843). Everywhere he went, he produced numerous sketches and drawings. A passionate participant in the battles of the Risorgimento, he was widely acclaimed in his time, receiving commissions from the Pope and exhibiting successfully in Venice, Milan, Rome, Trieste, as well as in Paris and London.

He was essentially a meticulous landscape painter whose works—clear, rigorously constructed, and sometimes used as pretexts for striking effects of artificial lighting or delicate tones worthy of Corot—continued the tradition of the Venetian urban landscape pioneered by Canaletto (The Pincio in the Morning, 1846; View of Turin, 1850; Boulevard Saint-Denis, Paris, 1855; Venice, G.A.M., Ca’ Pesaro). The Correr Museum in Venice also preserves a series of his drawings. (Source: Larousse)

Born to Giacomo and Maria Castellani, Caffi studied first in Belluno, then in Padua with his cousin, the painter Pietro Paoletti, who worked alongside another Bellunese artist of neoclassical taste, Giovanni De Min; he later attended the Academy of Venice, where he became acquainted with 18th-century Venetian landscapists. His Rialto Bridge, held at Ca’ Pesaro, is an example from this early period.

In this environment of discipline and intense study, Caffi began to feel a growing unease; in January 1832, he moved to Rome with his cousin Paoletti. While working in his cousin’s studio, Caffi refined his technique, immersing himself in the art of veduta painting. By early 1833, he had opened his own studio, devoting himself to painting and drawing.

Although based in Rome, he frequently traveled to other cities to exhibit his works. While in Rome, he also took a balloon flight with the French aeronaut Francisque Arban (1815–1849) and the photographer Giacomo Caneva (1813–1865), an experience that left a deep impression on him and inspired two almost romantic paintings.

In 1841, he decorated the Roman Hall of the Caffè Pedrocchi in Padua. In 1843, he left for Naples and then embarked on his Eastern journey, visiting Athens, Turkey, Palestine, and Egypt; he returned to Italy in 1844, laden with sketches and studies.

In 1848, he left Rome for Friuli, where he joined the war against Austria; captured, he escaped and spent a year in Venice. In 1849, he settled in Genoa, then in Switzerland, and in 1850 in Turin.

After several trips to London—where he exhibited at the Universal Exposition—Paris, and Spain, he returned to Rome in 1855 and to Venice from 1858 onward, where he was tried for “public violence.”

In 1860, he was imprisoned for three months in the San Severo prison as a political detainee, suspected by Austrian authorities due to his frequent visits to Turin and Milan. Afterward, he returned to Milan and then moved to Naples, where he joined Garibaldi’s army. After 1860, following Italy’s unification, Caffi returned to Venice and resumed painting.

He died in 1866 in the sinking of the ship Re d’Italia during the Battle of Lissa, amid the Third War of Independence.

Though inspired by 18th-century Venetian masters, Caffi’s work modernized the pictorial vocabulary of the veduta, exploring new perspectives—such as nocturnal scenes—and unusual themes, such as the ascent of a hot-air balloon.

Highly esteemed during his lifetime, Caffi was not fully reappraised by art historians until the mid-1960s. The major exhibition organized in Venice to mark the centenary of his death finally restored his reputation. His production was vast, though part of it has been lost.

A number of his works are preserved at the Belluno Civic Museum; many others belong to private collections and various museums.