Gran Madre di Dio from the Po, Turin

Ippolito Caffi was trained in the Venetian school of 'veduta' painting, vedute being the cityscapes and panoramas for which Venice had been known since it gave birth to the great vedutisti of the 18th Century. Caffi achieved recognition by combining this classical tradition with innovative and modern elements, as can be seen in the present picture.

Here Caffi has broken the rules of classical composition and perspective by introducing forms in the extreme left and right foreground. Furthermore, whilst traditional Venetian cityscapes seek to eternalise and idealize their subjects, Caffi depicts a moment as fleeting as the snow that covers the Italian city - as fog descends over the bridge, two boats touch land as a passenger passes onto the bank.