Figures in an Italianate Landscape

Italian painter, architect and stage designer, and originally trained as a painter of illusionistic architecture, Panini moved to Rome in 1711 to study with Benedetto Luti (1666-1724) and Andrea Locatelli (1695-1744). He was a highly successful, prolific and versatile painter, best known for his numerous vedute of Rome, many of white focused on the remnants of the city's classical past of both real and invented views. Ceremonies and festivals are often featured in his vedute, and thus constitute a lively documentation of contemporary topography, lifestyle, and customs. In contrast to Bernardo Bellotto and Gaspar Van Wittel, Panani's treatment is picturesque rather than rigorous; he liked to enliven and animate his views by adding numerous small figures, which he probably studied from life. He worked exclusively in Rome and by the end of his career was the head of a thriving workshop that included the Frechman Hubert Robert (in Rome from 1754) and Panini's son, Francesco Panini (b. 1738).

The subtle drawing of his most favored type of view is a typical example of an idealized Roman setting.