Giovanni Paolo Panini Piacenza 1691 - 1765 Rome

Panini was the foremost painter of Roman views during the first half of the 18th century, differing from contemporary painters in his picturesque approach to topography which contrasted with the more accurate views of other vedutisti such as Bellotto or Vanvitelli. This architectural capriccio is typical of the genre of painting for which Panini became famous and this particular composition evidently enjoyed considerably popularity amongst his patrons for he incorporated a number of elements from it in other variants along the same theme. A painting formerly with Morandotti in Rome, signed and dated 1734, shows an almost identical composition, with the same combination of architectural elements but with noticeable differences in the staffage.¹ The similarity in design and handling between these two works would suggest a likely date of circa 1734 for the present canvas. Panini produced variants of both this and the ex-Morandotti picture, in paintings dated 1734 and 1735, in which he incorporated additional or alternative elements such as Trajan’s column, the Arch of Septimius Severus and the statue of the Farnese Hercules.²

Characteristic of Panini’s capricci is the inclusion of real monuments and sculptures, placed for pictorial effect in a fanciful arrangement. The key protagonist of this composition is the Colosseum, its massive structure acting as a backdrop to the figures and statuary in the foreground. To balance out the Colosseum’s vast dimensions Panini has placed the three columns of the Temple of Castor and Pollux at the far right, acting as a visual counterpoint in the composition. Beyond these are the Arch of Constantine, set at an oblique angle for greater perspectival effect, and a pyramid (presumably the Piramide Cestia). Panini must have studied the statues in the foreground from life for he includes them in numerous compositions, often shown from different angles.³ The male nude to the left is the famous ‘Borghese Gladiator’ by Agasius of Ephesus (today in the Musée du Louvre, Paris) whilst the seated nude can be identified as the ‘Dying Gaul’, one of the most celebrated works to have survived from antiquity (today in the Musei Capitolini, Rome).

1 Oil on canvas, 96 by 136 cm., signed and dated: G.P.P. Romae, 1734; for which see F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini e i fasti della Roma del ’700, Rome 1986, p. 343, cat. no. 225, reproduced.
2 See the variants in Maidstone Museum and Art Gallery, inv. 00-1873-4 (signed and dated 1734); John Herron Art Museum, Indianapolis, inv. 50/6 (signed and dated 1735); and Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, inv. 454 (signed and dated 1735); for which see Arisi, op. cit., cat. nos. 226, 231 and 233, all reproduced.
3 For example, the ‘Borghese Gladiator’ is shown front-on in a painting in a private collection, Rome (Arisi, ibid., p. 345, cat. no. 228, reproduced) and both statues are shown, very slightly turned, in a painting in the Virginia Museum of Arts, Richmond, which is signed and dated 1736 (ibid., p. 352, cat. no. 242, reproduced).