Artist: Giovanni Paolao Panini

Italian artist b.1691 d.1765.
He painted views of both real and imaginary Roman architecture. His most famous works are of the Pantheon and St. Peter’s Basilica.

I came across his paintings and was instantly mesmerised by the incredible height and space in his paintings. They are magnificent!

Giovanni Paolo Panini, the most celebrated and popular view painter in eighteenth-century Rome, was born 17 June 1691 in Piacenza. Although he prepared as a youth for a career in the Church, he studied perspective and architectural painting in his native city and had received some architectural training by the time of his arrival in Rome in November 1711. 

https://www.nga.gov/collection/artist-info.1766.html

^ You can tell he has an architectural background. His use of perspective good and he seems to understand how a building works.

The people at the bottom of the painting are so tiny compared to the scale of the building. The people in the painting also have so much movement. They are all involved in some action, and all are poised elegantly, with extravagant dress colours and silhouettes.
The floor of the painting is full of so much energy, which makes the building appear all the more monumental.

The perspective in the building lines are thoroughly believable, which is key to the depth in this painting. The little alcoves to the right and left of the main space make the space all the more believable, intricate and grand.

I would like to do some paintings and sketches baed on his work. I think this will help me understand them better.

More of his work:

This painting is just amazing. The sunlight that is coming through the hole in the ceiling and hitting the side of the room is very interesting. It gives the space some context as to the time of day and the world that is outside of the room.
What if I shone a light through the sculpture I have made?
The people in this painting have as much energy as Panini’s other paintings. Their garments are so rich in colour, the lighting gives the fabric such clarity and elegance. The people have an energy that completes the space. Without people at the bottom of the space I suspect the building would look lifeless and the space would hold a feeling of impending doom! The people give the space life. Otherwise the building might have the same feeling a ruin would? Holding lifeless air that was once filled.

I really want to go and visit St Peter’s Basillica in Rome. Photos of it online looks so much like the paintings by Panini! I would be great the see the space for myself and even paint in it.