Old Masters and 19th Century Art

Professor Ferdinando Arisi has previously confirmed the attribution to Panini.

Provenance:

Private Collection, Trieste, Italy.

De Zucco Antiquari, Trieste, Ttaly.

Christie's, New York, sale of October 17, 2006, lot 57.

Acquired directly from the above sale by the present owner.

Literature:

Ferdinando Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini e i fasti della Roma del '700, Rome, 1986, no. 496, p. 463 (as one of three known versions)

Lot Essay:

This present work is a replica of the painting in the Royal Collection at Windsor Castle (inv. 2857). Another version of this painting was offered with a pendant capriccio (sale; Sotheby's, New York, 19 May 1994, lot 64, for $387,500) and Arisi (op. cit) makes references to two other versions, differing slightly in size and composition.

Giovanni Paolo Panini was born in Piacenza and received his early training in the studio of Bolognese stage designers. After moving to Rome by 1711, he studied briefly with Benedetto Luti. Panini specialized in capricci of Roman ruins and in recording events of historical significance, though it is the former for which he is best known. Of these, some are accurate topographical records (vedute reale) while others are all or in part imaginary, composed perhaps as a pastiche of real views (vedute ideale). This genre of painting, with a primary focus on classical ruins, was known as Rovinismo, and was practiced by a sizeable group of painters including Bartholomeus Breenbergh, Viviano Codazzi, and Giovanni Ghisolfi. In 1732, Panini was elected a member of the French Academy in Rome, where he taught classes in optics and perspective.