Giovanni Paolo Panini Painting Interior St. Peter\'s,

¶ … Giovanni Paolo Panini painting Interior St. Peter's, Rome. This I found requirements info. 1st page

Giovanni Paolo Panini was a renowned painter and architect who created a number of works in the 18th century. He is perhaps best known for the interior painting he did at Saint Peter's Basilica in Italy. He was one of the most respected topographers in Italy during the 18th century, and was credited for his life-like depictions of people and structures -- particularly Roman ruins (Allen Memorial Art Museum, no date).

Panini was born in 1691 and would eventually die in 1765. He spent much of his early life in Piacenza (which as been incorporated into part of Italy today). As a boy, Panini likely received some training in art, although his formal education in the subject would begin after 1711 when he moved to Rome. His education would include studying with Benedetto Luti and erudition at the Academy of St. Luke, where he learned numerous techniques for the visual arts that would apply to both architecture and to painting. In 1732, the artist was appointed professor of perspective at the French Academy. He would end his academic tenure as principal at the Academy of St. Luke.

A brief overview of Panini's career evinces his development as an artist. Much of his early paintings established his penchant for depicting notable subjects, which the subsequent quotation implies. Upon his initial arrival at the Academy of St. Luke:

His reception piece, "Alexander Visiting the Tomb of Achilles" (1719) is typical of his earlier easel paintings, having small figures dwarfed by an elaborate architectural construction derived from Bolognese theatrical scenography. Many of his canvases prior to 1730 feature explicit historical or religious subjects (Gupta, no date).

In his latter years Panini was revered for painting Roman buildings and for focusing on their interiors. In this respect, his work at St. Peter's Basilica is no different.

The interior of Saint Peter's Basilica that Panini painted is extremely vast, and is one of the most notable works of art to come from Italy during the 18th century. The artist painted the inside of this huge church around 1735. This period of Western art is sometimes referred to as barocchetto "which implies a diminutive, weaker, "effeminate" version of Baroque" (Bowron and Rishel, 2000). This particular place of worship was named such because it is where St. Peter was buried. It has been renovated many times, perhaps most eminently by Michelangelo during the Renaissance. Panini's work occurred a couple of centuries later and, fittingly enough, depicts the interior of the church. The author was able to impress upon the viewer the expansive nature of the church with its many halls and corridors.

More importantly, perhaps, there are a number of people depicted within the Basilica that Panini painted. In keeping with his tendency, some of these people are extremely noteworthy. For instance, the French Ambassador to the Vatican that commissioned this particular work, Cardinal Melchoir de Polignanc, is seen in the painting dressed like a Cardinal and surrounded by a small entourage, which denotes his importance to the work. This particular painting and the subject matter that it depicts was selected by both Panini and this document due to its salience in the Christian and the Catholic tradition. The viewer can certainly understand its grandeur and prominence simply by looking at the vast size o this work, as well as all of the intricacy of details that adorn it. The materials used for it were fairly simple and include oil painting on canvas. The technique that Panini utilized to render this work is partly attributed to the science of topography. Since Panini was both a painter as well as an architect, the details of the proportions of the structure and the vast amounts of it he was able to detail in this particular work are highly accurate, and part of the sumptuous nature of this painting.

Although I am not particularly inclined to visual works of art -- particularly those that were created in antiquity, I was somewhat surprised at how fond I was of this particular painting. My personal opinion of this work is that it is very good, and actually something that -- had I space and the funds to procure a decent-sized replica -- I might consider hanging around my house for my own personal enjoyment. The primary reasons that I chose Panini to discuss within this assignment is because I am so taken with this work. I am motivated in part by the colors used within the painting -- all of the variations of gold, subdued in certain parts to a glowing brown, seem particularly lucent. The intensity of the light that this work projects is augmented by the partitions within the church that were illuminated by the sun, which helps to add to the overall appeal of the artist's choice of colors.