Historic Value of Art in the Ancient Rome by Giovanni Paolo Panini

What do you think art is? The expression or application of human creative skill? One's imagination put on a canvas? Yes, but there is more to art than just that. Art tells history. Just like the painting Ancient Rome(1757) by Giovanni Paolo Panini.

In his painting that has used oil paint as his medium, Panini painted various Roman monuments. Hence the name. Giovanni was the most popular, and most viewed painter in the eighteenth century(“Kappe 2019”). A veduta is a highly detailed painting of a place such as a city or a landscape in a certain view. Giovanni was known to be a vedutisti, which was a painter of a veduta. He spent most of his life in Rome even though he was born in Italy. Since he spent most of his life in Rome, it has been the theme in most of his paintings.

He was born June 17th, 1691 in Piacenza, Italy. He was the first artist to devote his paintings to the study of ruins. He also did paintings of historical events. Giovanni's paintings gained favor with the French aristocrats which established a connection. Which in turn gave him the opportunity to teach in the French Academy in Rome, a very prestigious school. There, he taught perspective, and how to synthesize the heritage of the Italian renaissance with the new methods of recent French paintings. Panini was also received honors such as membership in both the Congregazione dei Virtuosi al Pantheon( Pontifical Academy of Fine Arts) and the Accademia di San Luca in 1719(“National Gallery”).

In the painting if you look, on top is a green curtain that is pulled aside to show many paintings and sculptures of ancient Roman monuments. The green cloth is propped to the upper-right side of the picture, just like a curtain on a stage. Panini and his patron Count de Stainville appear in the painting. Panini is standing directly behind the chair in the middle, while Count de Stainville is standing in front of him with a book in his hand. The idea was that the monuments in this painting represent all the works that a young gentleman of a good family should see on his tour of Rome. This kind of tours was popular among the rich to educate young men about the cultural world. There are three versions of this painting and they all look slightly different. Besides the version in the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Staatsgalerie in Stuttgart has on version, and the Louvre has another version. Panini painted multiple versions of this painting within three years.} In the painting you will see how each monument is put in its own little canvas drawn in different perspectives.

One of the monuments in the painting that I recognized right away was the Colosseum. (Restate){The Colosseum was built between 72 A.D and 80 A.D under the Emperor Vespasian, in the heart of Ancient Rome. This brilliant building had 80 entrances and could seat approximately 50,000 spectators who would come to watch sporting events and games. These events included gladiatorial combats, wild animal hunts and, believe it or not, ship naval battles.}

The Arch of Constantine is a triumphal arch in Rome, situated right next to the Colosseum. It’s probably the second most famous monument in Rome besides the colosseum. It was erected in 315 AD by the Roman Senate to commemorate Constantine I’s victory over Maxentius at the Battle of Milvian Bridge in 312 AD. The Arch of Constantine is the largest of the three remaining imperial triumphal arches in Rome. The arch is 69 ft high, 85 ft wide and 24.3 ft deep. It is made out of grey and white Proconnesian marble. Many of the decorative sculptures on the Arch of Constantine have been incorporated from other monuments. The monument suffered in later times, becoming a part of a fortress under the Frangipane in the Middle Ages before being restored in the 15th century CE.

Another painting that I saw in the painting was the Exterior of the Pantheon. I noticed it because this was in my college class lecture and textbook. It made me feel a sense of nostalgia. Before the current pantheon building, there were 2 others before it. They were built in the same spot of the current. The first was destroyed by fire in 80 CE and the second was struck by lightning in 110 CE and again burned down. The current pantheon is the best-preserved building from ancient Rome and was completed in c. 125 CE. the building has survived remarkably well, probably because relatively early in its history it was converted into the church of St. Mary of the Martyrs in 608 CE. Another reason why it has been preserved so well is because at some time in the Middle Ages the left side of the porch was damaged. That led to the replacement of three columns. The Pantheon’s drum, is a massive, cylindrical structure that forms the monument. The Romans invented and utilized a system of interlocking brick arches, vaults, and piers to enable the drum’s even weight distribution and support.

Giovanni didn’t just see the exterior of the pantheon, he went inside to see all of its glory. Giovanni also made a separate painting of the Interior of the Pantheon called “Interior of the Pantheon, Rome”. The interior of the concrete cupola is decorated with 5 rows of 28 coffers that culminate at the oculus.1 As the coffers progress upwards, they decrease in size, exaggerating the height of the ceiling that visually towers into the distance. Historians speculate that the ceiling was originally colored in dark blue with bronze accents on the coffers. During the day, the sunlight would showcase the rotunda’s decorative grandeur.

Another famous monument that can be found in the painting is The Maxentius Basilica. It was built in 312 AD. The Basilica is part of the Roman Forum,a rectangular plaza that, to this day, features the remains of ancient Roman government buildings. At the time of its construction the basilica was the biggest building in the entire Forum. Although it was completed by Constantine, Maxentius started the contraction of the building. Hence the name. The basilica was used for commercial purposes. Not only is the Basilica of Maxentius impressive because it would help to inspire later Roman architects,but it is also unique in that it originally featured two different types of arches: groined arches and barrel arches. The Basilica was one of the early examples of a mixing and borrowing of various architectural styles.