Ippolito Caffi was an Italian painter of architectural subjects and seascapes or urban "vedute". He was born at Belluno, Italy to James and Mary Castellani. He studied in Belluno and then in Padua with his cousin the painter Pietro Paoletti, who worked in conjunction with another artist from Belluno in neoclassical style. He studied and produced his first work at the Accademia in Venice where he was able to know the Venetian painters of the eighteenth century. His Rialto Bridge is an example of this period.

In 1832, Caffi moved to Rome, and in early 1833, opened his own studio, devoting himself to painting and drawing from life. He made some reputation by his treatise on perspective, as well as by his investigation...