With Galleria Cesare Lampronti, Rome;
From whom acquired in 2007.

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 painting is unlined. It is probably on a more recent stretcher. The cracking is slightly raised in the sky, but this is certainly not a reason to line the picture or a condition issue. Under ultraviolet light, one can see a few tiny spots in the sky and an area of about an inch square in the upper center where a larger loss has been restored. There are barely any retouches at all in the architecture and foreground, and the condition throughout is clearly particularly good.
"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."

Ippolito Caffi (fig. 1) was the greatest Italian vedutista of the first half of the nineteenth century. He attended the Accademia di Belle Arti in Venice, studying under Teodoro Matteini, Francesco Bagnara, and Tranquillo Orsi, before establishing himself as the artistic heir of Canaletto. His views are distinguished by his virtuoso command of spatial construction (in 1835 he published a textbook on perspective, Lezioni di prospettiva pratica, with Antonio Bianchini) and by his striking observation of the fleeting effects of light and atmosphere. 

Caffi was from Belluno, a city to the north of Venice. Like many of the tourists who made their way to Italy, he traveled extensively around the country and beyond, visiting Greece, Syria, Turkey and Egypt. Each place he visited was depicted with🍷 the same respect and sense of wonder. In the present painting, the majesty of Piazza San Pietro afforded Caffi the perfect setting to create an impressive stage which he po🥀pulates with spirited but small and economically rendered figures which are dwarfed by their surroundings. The warm light which bathes the sky and the buildings is typical of his work and captures the glory of the city.