Fantasy View with the Pantheon and other Monuments of Ancient Rome

Public Domain

ExpandFavorite

Artist Giovanni Paolo Panini (Italian (Roman), 1691–1765)Italian (Roman), 1691–1765

CultureItalian

Titles

Fantasy View with the Pantheon and other Monuments of Ancient Rome

Date1737

PlaceItaly

MediumOil on canvas

DimensionsCanvas: 38 15/16 × 54 1/8 in. (98.9 × 137.5 cm)
Frame: 50 × 65 in. (127 × 165.1 cm)

Credit LineThe Samuel H. Kress Collection

Object number61.62

Current Location

The Audrey Jones Beck Building

209 Nicandros Gallery

On view

Explore Further

Department

Arts of Europe and the Mediterranean

Object Type

PAINTING

Description

The most celebrated and popular view painter in 18th-century Rome, Giovanni Paolo Panini specialized in fantasy views of Roman ruins. Here, the artist has gathered into an imaginary setting the Farnese Hercules sculpture; the obelisk of Thetmosis III; the Pantheon; an equestrian monument to the emperor Marcus Aurelius; the half-ruined Temple of Vesta from Tivoli; Trajan's column; and, behind the column, the Forum of Nerva.

ProvenanceCardinal Melchior de Polignac (1742); The Abbe de Gevigney, Genealogist of the Royal Library, Paris (1779); Marquis de Marigny and Menars (1781); M. Rousseau acquired in 1782; Pierre Rousseau, Painter and Sculptor of Bruges, (1802-1857); Arthur Lehmann, Paris; Marcel Nicolle, Paris; Hermann Heilbuth, Copenhagen, Denmark; [Count Renato Avogli Trotti (1875-1946), Paris]; [Duveen Brothers, New York]; Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York, 1942; on loan to the museum 1953-61; gift to MFAH, 1961.
Exhibition History"A Collection of Paintings (belonging to H. Heilbuth)," Danish Museum of Fine Arts, Copenhagen, 1920.

National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1945.

"A Gift to America: Masterpieces of European Painting from the Samuel H. Kress Collection," North Carolina Museum of Art, Raleigh, February 5–April 24, 1994; Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, May 17–August 7, 1994; Seattle Art Museum, September 8–November 27, 1994; Fine Arts Museums of San Francisco, December 17, 1994–March 4, 1995.

"Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation," The Museum of Art, Ehime, Matsuyama, Japan, April 13–May 30, 1999; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum, Japan, June 5–July 11, 1999; Mie Prefectural Art Museum, Tsu, Japan, July 17–August 22, 1999; Fukuoka Art Museum, Japan, August 27–October 3, 1999.

"Giuseppe Vasi's Rome: Lasting Impressions from the Age of the Grand Tour," Jordan Schnitzer Museum of Art, University of Oregon, Eugene, September 25, 2010–January 2, 2011; Princeton University Art Museum, New Jersey, March 6–June 12, 2011.
Published References J. P. Marandel in The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston: A Guide to the Collection, Houston, 1981, p. 71, no. 125. Masterpieces of European Painting from the 15th to 20th Centuries from the Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, and the Sarah Campbell Blaffer Foundation, published by the Museum of Art, Ehime; Chiba Prefectural Art Museum; Mie Prefectural Art Museum; Fukuoka Art Museum; and the Yomiuri Shimbun, the Japan Association of Art Museums, 1999. (Exhibition catalogue in Japanese only.) pp. 136-137, illus. 137, cat. no. 43. Inscriptions, Signatures and Marks

Recto: Signed and dated at bottom right: G. P. PANINI ROMAE 1737

Cataloguing data may change with further research.

If you have questions about this work of art or the MFAH Online Collection please contact us.