Italian School, late 18th Century

The Pantheon, Rome

Details

Italian School, late 18th Century
The Pantheon, Rome
with inscription 'M. Agrippa L:f.cos. Tertium fecit'
bodycolor heightened with white (slightly oxidized), the sheet extended on the left
15 x 22 in. (404 x 566 mm.)

Lot Essay

Loosely copied from Piranesi's print of the same subject in Le Antichit Romane, plate XIV, published in Rome in 1756. The artist completed the two lanterns built by Bernini under Alexander VII, Piranesi had voluntarily cropped. Bernini's lanterns on the Pantheon were mocked by many architects and nicknamed 'Bernini's dunce's cap'. They were pulled down in the 19th Century.