Architectural Capriccio

1730 · Private collection

other

This signed and dated painting is a capriccio with figures discoursing among Roman ruins. The architectural elements appear to be of Panini's invention, although some components may have been inspired by actual ruins in Rome. Panini creates here a monumental setting, in which the strong vertical emphasis of the columns is softened by the horizontal accent of the arched ceiling of the arcade.

About the Artist

Giovanni Paolo Pannini

1691 – 1765

Giovanni Paolo Pannini (or Panini), Italian painter. He was the first painter to specialize in ruins, treating them as Roman 'vedute' of a special kind. He was working in Rome by c. 1717, but the earliest surviving dated picture is of 1727 (London, Wellington Museum); in 1729 he was concerned in a Fête given by Cardinal de Polignac in honour of the birth of the Dauphin and this began a long connection with France and the French Academy in Rome. Paintings of the Fête are in the Louvre (1729) and Dublin (1731). His views of modern Rome, as well as his capricci based on the better-known ruins, had an enormous vogue among Grand Tourists and examples are to be found in most older galleries. Piranesi, though far more of an archaeologist, was influenced by him, and so was Canaletto.

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