Rome: a capriccio of ancient buildings, including the remains of three temples and the basilica of Maxentius; the Borghese vase; and a horse drinking from a fountain. Etching by J.S. Müller, 1745, after G.P. Panini.

  • Panini, Gian Paolo, 1691 or 1692-1765.
Date:
[...]th 1745
Reference:
2921417i
  • Pictures

About this work

Description

On the left is the temple of Saturn with Ionic capitals. In front of it are the statue of the Nile leaning on the sphinx (Haskell and Penny pp. 272-273) and the Borghese vase (ibid. pp. 314-315). In the background are the temple of Antoninus and Faustina; two columns of the temple of Minerva (in the forum of Nerva, but identified in the lettering as the temple or forum of Peace in the adjacent forum of Vespasian) and the basilica of Maxentius (basilica of Constantine). In the distance is the Colosseum. Right, the arch of Titus and the remains of the temple of Castor and Pollux (three Corinthian columns in a row with an entablature), identified in the lettering as the temple of Jupiter Stator. Among the staffage, a philosopher points the way to a traveller with a stick, two men with three horses and their two grooms are engaged in conversation, a horse drinks from a fountain, and a man and a woman pass the time next to a bas-relief of a woman being followed by a hound

Publication/Creation

[London] : [Publish'd by Ar. Pond], [...]th 1745.

Physical description

1 print : etching, with line engraving ; image 44.7 x 59.4 cm

Lettering

In the collection of George Lewis Coke, Esqr. [...]ch wide ; [...]ch high. [Gio: Paolo Pannini pinx] J.S. Müller sculps. [...] [Temple of] Antoninus and Faustina [... Temple of] Peace ; [Ar]ch of Titus ; [Temple of] Ju[piter] ; [...] Palatine Bears number: No. 2

Notes

Catalogued from an impression with incomplete lettering

References note

F. Haskell and N. Penny, Taste and the antique, London 1981
Sotheby's New York, Important Old Master paintings & sculpture, 27 January 2011, lot 181

Reference

Wellcome Collection 2921417i

Reproduction note

After a painting formerly in the possession of George Lewis Coke (1715-1750). At least three paintings of Roman capricci by Panini said to belong to George Lewis Coke were published by Arthur Pond in the mid-1740s as etchings by Johann Sebastian Müller: Wellcome Library nos. 2897471i (1744), 2921417i (1745), and 2921418i (1746). The paintings appear to be lost. Two paintings by Panini of the same composition as two of the Müller prints (Wellcome Library nos. 2921417i and 2921418i), varying in minor details, were offered for sale at Sotheby's New York, on 27 January 2011, lots 181-182, with a provenance not from Coke but from Sir Robert Hildyard (1716-1781): "Not only were George Coke and Sir Robert Hildyard contemporaries, but they both made their Grand Tours within a year of one another, with Coke going to Italy in 1735 and Hildyard following in 1736. It is highly probable that Hildyard would have seen Coke's paintings while in Rome and commissioned a similar set for himself." (Sotheby's, loc. cit). The present composition corresponds to the Hildyard painting which was offered at Sotheby's as lot 181

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