Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art
Skip to main content
  • Menu
  • About us
  • Exhibitions
  • Collection
  • Publications
  • News
  • Notable Sales
  • Services
  • Contact
  • EN
  • IT
Menu
  • EN
  • IT
IPPOLITO CAFFI, Carnival in Rome, 1847

IPPOLITO CAFFI BELLUNO 1809-LISSA 1866

Carnival in Rome, 1847
Tempera and gouache on heavy paper
cm 31 x 39
Signed and dated lower right: Caffi 1847
Read more

Exhibitions

Caffi. Luci del Mediterraneo, curated by Annalisa Scarpa. Rome, Museo di Roma – Palazzo Braschi, 15 February – 2 May 2006.

Literature

Caffi. Luci del Mediterraneo, edited by Annalisa Scarpa. Rome, Museo di Roma – Palazzo Braschi, 15 February – 2 May 2006, page 161

This gouache captures on paper – with the liquid feel of a watercolour, yet at the same time extremely accurate in its rendering of detail – a fleeting moment in the extraordinary days that marked the Carnival in Rome between the 15th and 16th centuries, when its fame outshone even that of its counterpart in Venice.

The initial venue for the Carnival celebrations was Piazza Navona, then known as “Platea in Agone”, where bull fighting and jousting in which knights had to strike a revolving target (a “Saracen”) or insert their lances through a small metal ring (“ring-tilting”) were commonly held in the Middle Ages.  The celebrations were moved in the mid-15th century by order of Pope Paul II who, being Venetian, seized the opportunity to increase the appeal of his recently built Palazzo Venezia adjacent to the church of San Marco and chose nearby Via del Corso, then still known as Via Lata, as the new venue for the Carnival celebrations.

This picture is a fine example of the way in which the artist used to devote special attention to rendering the urban landscape, a feature typical of his best work.  The crowd crams Via del Corso in a whirlwind of joyful, noisy, jostling movement, dance and chatter, as though the mass of figures were perfectly aware of their role in an amusing commedia dell’arte brought to life by a flash of creative grace built with delicate brushwork in light and glittering colours.

Caffi was unquestionably attracted by his theme and certainly did not repeat it only because of its popularity with his admirers but also because of all that it signified for him in his permanent search for “novelty”:  light, shade, refractive power, perspective and emotion, the whole translated into light and colour.

 

Previous
|
Next
58 
of  105
Manage cookies
Copyright © 2022 Antonacci Lapiccirella Fine Art
Site by Artlogic

Via Margutta 54, 00187 Rome

+39 0645433036  |  info@alfineart.com 

 

 

 

 

 

Instagram, opens in a new tab.
Facebook, opens in a new tab.
Youtube, opens in a new tab.
Join the mailing list
View on Google Maps

This website uses cookies
This site uses cookies to help make it more useful to you. Please contact us to find out more about our Cookie Policy.

Manage cookies
Accept

Cookie preferences

Check the boxes for the cookie categories you allow our site to use

Cookie options
Required for the website to function and cannot be disabled.
Improve your experience on the website by storing choices you make about how it should function.
Allow us to collect anonymous usage data in order to improve the experience on our website.
Allow us to identify our visitors so that we can offer personalised, targeted marketing.
Save preferences
Close

Join the mailing list

Subscribe to our newsletter to receive all the news about exhibitions, fairs and new acquisitions!

Signup

We will process the personal data you have supplied in accordance with our privacy policy (available on request). You can unsubscribe or change your preferences at any time by clicking the link in our emails.