A classical capriccio with the Colosseum, Trajan's column and the Farnese Hercules, with the Philosopher Diogenes and other figures in the foreground

Giovanni Paolo Panini was the foremost painter of vedute in Rome in the middle decades of the eighteenth century. He trained in his native Piacenza under the quadraturisti Giuseppe Natali and Andrea Galluzzi, from whom he mastered perspective, and the set designer Francesco Galli Bibiena, from whom he learned to stage his compositions for optimal dramatic effect. In 1711, he settled in Rome. Panini rapidly became one of the most successful painters in the Eternal City, obtaining the patronage of leading collectors like Pope Innocent XIII, for whom he decorated the mezzanine apartment of the Palazzo Quirinale in 1742-43, and the connoisseur and French ambassador to Rome, Etienne François, Duc de Choiseul.

Panini’s mature vedute betray the influence of a variety of sources. Like Gaspare Vanvitelli, the leading Roman vedutista of an earlier generation, Panini favoured the depiction of minute details. Further influences can be found in the work of Salvator Rosa, whose lively figures inspired Panini’s spirited approach to his own staffage. And, unlike his great Venetian contemporary Canaletto, whose works are often topographically accurate depictions, Panini frequently favoured imaginative capricci of famous monuments. Here can be seen the Farnese Herculese, Trajan’s Column, the Arch of Titus, Hercules and the Hydra and the Flora Farnese. By including all these elements, Panini created a composition that would have appealed to the large number of Grand Tourists in Rome, who were looking for souvenirs of their travels.

The prime version of the present composition is in the Ashmolean Museum, Oxford. Ferdinando Arisi, in his work on the Oxford painting, identified the subject as being Diogenes throwing down the cup (see F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini e I fasti della Roma del '700, Rome, 1986, p. 415, no. 369). The philosopher Diogenes lived in the greatest austerity, one day he saw a boy drinking with his hands and realised that even cups were unnecessary. Here a youth can be seen kneeling to drink from the fountain at lower right. Opposite him a beggar, identifiable with Diogenes, can be seen reacting in shock to this. Panini has placed the philosopher in the pose of The Dying Gaul (see lot 53 in this sale, for a copy after the Antique), another classical reference that would have pleased the Grand Tourist who wanted to display his erudition.

Ferdinando Arisi confirmed the attribution to Panini, on the basis of photographs, stating that the picture was: 'of the best quality in all respects' (written communication with a previous owner, 29 July 1994). David R. Marshall suggested, from photographs, that the present picture is likely a second version of the Ashmolean painting, possibly with some assistance from the studio (private communication, 13 December 2010).