Charles-Joseph Natoire (Nîmes 1700 -1777 Castel Gandolfo) and Giovanni Paolo Panini (Piacenza 1691-1765 Rome)

Possibly Charles-Joseph Natoire,
his posthumous sale, Paris, 14 December 1778 and ff, part of lot 156: 'Dessins de composition & vues, d'après nature, par Jean Paul [...]. Deux dessins d'architecture, forme en hauteur, ils paroissent avoir été coloriés par Charles Natoire en y plaçant divers figures', (24 livres to Robert); 
Hon. Irwin Laughlin, Washington, D.C.,
His sale, London, Sotheby's, 10 June 1959, lot 62 (2), (as Panini);
with Charles Slatkin Gallery, New York, 1960;
Richard P. Wunder,
His sale, London, Christie's, 7 July 1976, lot 148, reproduced as frontispiece (as Hubert Robert)

Wellesley College, Jewett Arts Center, et al., Eighteenth Century Italian Drawings, A Loan Exhibition, 1960, no. 42, reproduced pl. 18 (as Panini);
Middlebury College, Middlebury, Vermont, Architectural, Ornament, Landscape and Figure Drawings collected by Richard Wunder, 1975, p. 32, no. 32, reproduced (as Hubert Robert)

R. P. Wunder, 'An Architectural Fantasty by Giovanni Paolo Pannini,' Bulletin of the Rhode Island School of Design, vol. 46, no. 4, 1960, pp. 7-9, p. 11, fig. 7 (as Panini);
S. Caviglia-Brunel, Charles-Joseph Natoire, Paris 2012, p. 498, no. R7, reproduced

Laid down on modern mount, but probably also laid down previously. Some wear at top in the vaults; some small foxing stains; and brown wash stain at left by Hercules. Some wear in figures seated below Marcus Aurelius
In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective qualified opinion.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.

Susanna Caviglia-Brunel believes that the present sheet is one of several drawings which appear to be collaborations between Panini and Natoire, in which the former executed the architectural setting and the latter added the figures and the wash, which are utterly characteristic of his style.  Panini and Natoire knew each other well in Rome, and the suggestion that they may have collaborated there is not a new one.¹

Various lots in the catalogue of Natoire's 1778 estate sale are described as being by Giovanni Paolo Panini with figures by Charles Natoire, and one of those lots must surely have included the present sheet (see Provenance).  Another drawing by Panini, with the same composition but without any input from Natoire, was in the collection of Pierre-Jean Mariette,² who owned a number of drawings by the artist, and it seems that Natoire, while director of the French Academy in Rome, sent quite a few such sheets to Paris, to both Mariette and Marigny.³  Hubert Robert also made a drawing of the same view, though with some differences, which was sold London in 1986.⁴ 

The remarkable ensemble of classical antiquities depicted in this drawing includes the iconic Farnese Hercules, a statue of a woman that was also in the courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese in the 18th century, and the famous Marcus Aurelius on Horseback from the Capitoline, with the position of his arm slightly changed.  See also lot ... for a drawing by Giovanni Paolo Panini of the courtyard of the Palazzo Farnese with the Hercules still in situ.

1.  Perrin Stein, 'Copies and Retouched Drawings by Charles-Joseph Natoire,' Master Drawings, XXXVIII, no. 2 , 2000, pp. 180-3, reproduced fig. 23
2.  Sale, London, Sotheby's, 21 October 1963, lot 111, now apparently in the Honolulu Academy of Arts
3.  Stein, op. cit., p. 180
4.  Sale, London, Christie's, 9 December 1986, lot 154, reproduced