(Belluno 1809–1866 Lissa)
The Roman Forum, monogrammed I. C., oil on card on canvas, 25.5 x 40 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.

The present painting represents a View of the Forum Romanum with the Tabularium, the Arch of Septimius Severus, the Temple of Saturn and, to the left, the Colonna di Foca.The view of the Forum and its ruins in the cold light of dusk is populated by peasant figures moving around the Forum’s Argiletum, where the excavations of the Arch of Septimius Severus are underway and have almost been completed, with three arches already being revealed. This detail enables the work to be dated more precisely to 1857, the year of Caffi’s last trip to Rome. In fact, we know that the Arch of Septimius Severus had already been excavated from the earth covering it by 1803 following instructions from Pope Pius VII, although it took until 1898 for the works to reveal it to be fully completed.