Giovanni Paolo Panini

The present work is a study, with differences, for Panini's painting of 1736, one of four commissioned from him by Philip V of Spain at the suggestion of the architect Filippo Juvarra, for the Palazzo di S. Idelfonso, known as La Granja, near Segovia.¹ Panini was among a small number of Roman artists who received the patronage of the Spanish King; others included were Francesco Imperiale, Sebastiano Conca, Francesco Trevisani and Placido Costanzi. A bozzetto for this composition is known but is closer in detail to the final painting than this drawing.²

^Only very few preparatory drawings for the broader commission seem to have survived: Arisi mentions a mere three figure studies in Berlin, which relate to two of the other paintings in the series - Christ at the Pool of Bethesda and Christ Disputing with the Doctors. Within the last three decades four compositional studies, including the present lot have appeared on the art market, the first two of these relating to Christ Disputing with the Doctors³ (see lot 166) and the third an energetic pen and brown ink preliminary study connected to the present lot and also previously in the Horvitz collection.

1. See F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini, Piacenza 1961, pp. 151-153, cat. nos. 105, 106, 108 and 110, figs. 155, 156, 159 and 161

2. Ibid., p. 152, no. 107, fig. 158

3. Sale, London, Christie's, 4 July 2000, lot 18 and sale, London, Christie's, 2 July 1991, lot 119