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Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome
Giovanni Paolo Pannini (Italian (Roman), 1691–1765)
1757
Medium/Technique
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
170.2 x 244.5 cm (67 x 96 1/4 in.)
Credit Line
Charles Potter Kling Fund
Accession Number1975.805
CollectionsEurope
ClassificationsPaintings
An extravagant souvenir of time spent abroad, this painting is one of four commissioned by the Duc de Choiseul to commemorate his stay in Rome as the French ambassador to the Vatican. Paintings documenting collections—real or imagined-had been popular among Europeans since the 17th century. Pannini, who became Rome’s most celebrated view painter, here depicts the duke seated in the center of a fantastic art gallery, surrounded by sculptures by Michelangelo and Bernini. Around him hang Pannini’s meticulously detailed views of Roman buildings, fountains, and monuments, including Saint Peter’s Square, the Trevi Fountain, and the Spanish Steps.
InscriptionsLower left, on face of block of stone, I. P A U L P A NINI. R O M A E; on edgeof stone: 1757
Provenance1757, Etienne François, Duc de Choiseul (b. 1719 - d. 1785), Paris (original commission) [see note 1]; 1792, sold by the Duc de Choiseul to Jacques-Donatien Le Ray (b. 1726 - d. 1803), Chaumont; by descent to his son, James Le Ray (b. 1760 - d. 1840), Chaumont and Otsego County, NY; by descent to his son-in-law, the Marquis de Gouvello; sold by Gouvello to William J. Davis; 1834, sold by Davis to the Boston Athenaeum [see note 2]; 1975, sold by the Boston Athenaeum to the MFA. (Accession Date: March 10, 1976)
NOTES:
[1] Information about the provenance of this painting is taken from Ferdinando Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini (Piacenza, 1961), pp. 211-212.
[2] See "The Descriptive Catalogue of the Four Magnificent Paintings of the Most Interesting Monuments of Ancient and Modern Rome" (exh. cat. Boston Athenaeum, 1834) and Mabel Munson Swan, The Athenaeum Gallery, 1827-1873 (Boston, 1940), pp. 124-125. The picture was first lent to the MFA in 1876.
NOTES:
[1] Information about the provenance of this painting is taken from Ferdinando Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini (Piacenza, 1961), pp. 211-212.
[2] See "The Descriptive Catalogue of the Four Magnificent Paintings of the Most Interesting Monuments of Ancient and Modern Rome" (exh. cat. Boston Athenaeum, 1834) and Mabel Munson Swan, The Athenaeum Gallery, 1827-1873 (Boston, 1940), pp. 124-125. The picture was first lent to the MFA in 1876.