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Lot Essay
During his early years in Rome in the 1720s Giovanni Paolo Panini worked primarily as a fresco painter, creating the spectacular frescoed architectural views and allegorical subjects that were so in demand for the decoration of Roman palaces, including his work at the Villa Patrizia (1719-1725), Palazzo Alberoni (1722), Palazzo de Carolis (1720) and Palazzo Albani (1720). Commissions for large-scale decorations culminated in the decoration for King Philip V and Elizabeth Farnese at their palace in La Granja, in 1754.
In addition to these grand commissions, Panini also established a reputation as the most illustrious painter of Roman views. These easel paintings varied in scale and represented the architectural sites and treasures of Rome being rediscovered around him -- exciting both the artist and his foreign clientele who often requested that favorite sites be included in the compositions he painted for them. The tourist depicted in the present painting is a woman, seen accompanied by a guide and a female companion -- an unusual inclusion in a picture where one would ordinarily expect to see a male patron. This cental grouping appears again in A capriccio with an obelisk, the Temples of Hadrian and Fortuna Virile, dating to the late 1730s (F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini e I fasti della Roma del '700, Rome, 1986, no. 357). The Belvedere Torso is also a rare motif for the artist, appearing in another composition recorded by Arisi (Zimbabwe, Rhodes National Art Museum op cit., no. 439). These unusual inclusions show that Panini took particular care with the present picture.
In this view Panini includes no less than eight buildings and eleven other monuments and works of art brought together from various sites around Rome in a tour de force of architectural rendering. Represented (from left to right) is the Column of Trajan, Temple of Saturn, a personification of the Tiber, the Lion of the Scalinata of the Campidoglio, the Adventus relief from the Arch of Constantine, the Arch of Constantine itself, Temple of Vesta, Pyramid of Caius Cestius, Arch of Drusus, Colosseum, an obelisk, Sarcophagus of Constantina, Temple of Castor and Pollux, a maenad relief, the Belvedere Torso, the Borghese Vase, Basilica of Maxentius, and the Column of Marcus Aurelius.
We are grateful to David R. Marshall for confirming the attribution, on the basis of photographs (private communication, 13 December 2010). Professor Marshall states that the painting is 'of exceptional quality' and suggests a date of circa 1750.
In addition to these grand commissions, Panini also established a reputation as the most illustrious painter of Roman views. These easel paintings varied in scale and represented the architectural sites and treasures of Rome being rediscovered around him -- exciting both the artist and his foreign clientele who often requested that favorite sites be included in the compositions he painted for them. The tourist depicted in the present painting is a woman, seen accompanied by a guide and a female companion -- an unusual inclusion in a picture where one would ordinarily expect to see a male patron. This cental grouping appears again in A capriccio with an obelisk, the Temples of Hadrian and Fortuna Virile, dating to the late 1730s (F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini e I fasti della Roma del '700, Rome, 1986, no. 357). The Belvedere Torso is also a rare motif for the artist, appearing in another composition recorded by Arisi (Zimbabwe, Rhodes National Art Museum op cit., no. 439). These unusual inclusions show that Panini took particular care with the present picture.
In this view Panini includes no less than eight buildings and eleven other monuments and works of art brought together from various sites around Rome in a tour de force of architectural rendering. Represented (from left to right) is the Column of Trajan, Temple of Saturn, a personification of the Tiber, the Lion of the Scalinata of the Campidoglio, the Adventus relief from the Arch of Constantine, the Arch of Constantine itself, Temple of Vesta, Pyramid of Caius Cestius, Arch of Drusus, Colosseum, an obelisk, Sarcophagus of Constantina, Temple of Castor and Pollux, a maenad relief, the Belvedere Torso, the Borghese Vase, Basilica of Maxentius, and the Column of Marcus Aurelius.
We are grateful to David R. Marshall for confirming the attribution, on the basis of photographs (private communication, 13 December 2010). Professor Marshall states that the painting is 'of exceptional quality' and suggests a date of circa 1750.