(Belluno 1809–1866 Lissa)
A view of the Roman Forum with the Arch of Constantine, the Temple of Venus and the Meta Sudans at the centre, oil on canvas, 28 x 45.5 cm, framed, (GG)

Provenance:
Acquired directly from the artist in Rome by Pietro Dovizielli (1809-1885), the great-great-grandfather of the current owner;
then by inheritance to the current owner;
Private Collection, Italy. 

We are grateful to Annalisa Scarpa for kindly confirming the authenticity on the basis of the original.

This work will be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné, which is currently in preparation. 
It is likely that Ippolipo Caffi produced this work during his stay in Rome between 1835 and 1837, where he rented an apartment at Via Vittoria 25, in the Palazzo of Pietro Dovizielli, the great-great-grandfather of the current owner. The picture has been passed from one generation to the next and is now being made available on the art market for the first time. 
There are three further versions of this view, which differ slightly from this one. Two are held in private collections in England, whilst the remaining one is in private ownership in Rome. This latter painting was completed in 1856, substantially later than the work on offer here. In fact, the 1856 version reveals the progress of the restoration work on the Colosseum: the overgrowth protruding from the arch in our painting has already been cut down in the later work. The difference between our image and the very similar version in England can be seen in the figures populating the image. We see two gentlemen walking with a lady, a high prelate, and, to the right, three peasant women and two farmers with a small donkey. The larger scale of this painting, compared to the other versions, suggests that this image was created as a prototype which led to the above additional variants.