Description
Giovanni Paolo Panini worked his entire life in Rome, providing foreign travelers keepsake images of the well-known sights of the papal city, including the beloved basilica of St. Peter’s. This picture is one of the best of the more than twenty versions of the interior of St. Peter’s that the artist painted. By setting the point of view of the would-be visitor low to the pavement and using light to focus attention into the distant nave, Panini captured the grandeur of sheer size, an essential component of the impressive experience of visiting the famous church. Panini rarely varied from the truthful depiction of his subjects, although in this case he placed the papal arms on the ceiling of the second bay rather than the third, most likely to enhance the sensation of vast scale.
paper: 24 x 32 inches; image: 19 3/4 x 31 inches