Ippolito Caffi 'li Moccoletti' 1841- (belluno, October 16, 1809 – Lissa, July 20, 1866)

Ippolito Caffi (Belluno, October 16, 1809 – Lissa, July 20, 1866) studied in Belluno, then in Padua with his cousin, the painter Pietro Paoletti, who worked alongside another Belluno painter of neoclassical taste, Giovanni De Min. He continued his studies at the Academy of Venice, where he met the 18th-century Venetian vedute painters. He settled in Rome in 1832, where he remained for several years and, in the 1840s, created several nocturnal scenes, the most admired and celebrated of which are those depicting Roman festivals, where crowds gather under the evocative light of hundreds of candles. This small painting, through its skillful use of strong contrasts of light, illustrates this particular period of popular candlelit celebrations. Ippolito Caffi. Li Moccoletti, Carnival celebrations in Rome in 1841