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The soaring, gilded vault of a central aisle of the inside of a church fills this horizontal painting. The ceiling of the nave curves up and away from us like a tunnel. It is lined with coffers, which have inset panels, decorated with gold. The light-filled nave angles down from the top center of the composition toward the lower left as it moves away from us. The white stone pillars supporting the barrel vault are intricately carved and decorated with pudgy, winged cherubs holding portraits of men, and aisles run parallel to the central nave to our left and right. In the side aisles, pink marble columns flank altars in chapels. At the far end of the church, the nave is interrupted where it opens into the light-filled crossing, before continuing beyond. Marking the space where the long hall of the church is intersected by a shorter arm to create a cross shape is a structure made of four twisting columns supporting a pointed canopy, all cast in bronze. Tiny men and women pray or gather in pairs and small groups along the nave. Some wear tattered clothing and others are elegantly dressed.

Giovanni Paolo Pannini

Interior of Saint Peter's, Rome, c. 1754

West Building, Main Floor - Gallery 31

Medium

oil on canvas

Dimensions

overall: 154.5 x 197 cm (60 13/16 x 77 9/16 in.)

framed: 179.1 x 222.3 x 8.3 cm (70 1/2 x 87 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)

Credit Line

Ailsa Mellon Bruce Fund

Accession Number

1968.13.2

Artists / Makers

Giovanni Paolo Panini (artist) Roman, 1691 - 1765

Image Use

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Inscription

around the collar of the cupola: [CA]ELORVM TV ES PETRVS ET SV[PER HANC PETRAM AEDIFICABO ECCLESIAM MEAM ET TIBI DABO CLAVES REGNI]; on the ceiling of the nave, the arms of Pope Paul V, encircled by: PAVLVS.V.PONT.MAX.A.MDCXV; on arcophagus above first doorway on right: INNOCENT. XIII. / PONT.MAX.; on upper relief roundel on the first pier at left: S GELASIVUS; on lower roundel on the second pier at left: S. SIXTUS; on upper roundel on right pier: S. CAIVUS; on lower roundel on right pier: S. MARCVS; on second pier: S. TELESCO

Provenance

Possibly Étienne-François, duc de Choiseul [1719-1785], Château de Chanteloup, Touraine and/or Paris; (sale, Paris, 12 December 1787, no. 101).[1] Possibly Hubert Robert [1733-1808], Paris;[2] his wife, Anne-Gabrielle Soos [1745-1821], Paris; (sale, Paris, 16-17 November 1821, no. 55).[3] William Lowther, 2d earl of Lonsdale [1787-1872], London; (sale, Christie, Manson & Woods, London, 18 June 1887, no. 912).[4] Algernon George De Vere, 8th earl of Essex [1884-1966], Cassiobury, Hertfordshire; (sale, Knight, Frank & Rutley, London, 6 July 1923, no. 257).[5] (Sackville Gallery, London, 1924).[6] Count Alessandro Contini Bonacossi [1878-1955], Rome and Florence; his heirs. M. Friedenberg; sold 28 November 1967 to (Thomas Agnew & Sons, London);[7] purchased 1968 by NGA.

[1] Suite et Supplément au Catalogue de M. Le Duc de Ch***, Paris, 1787: no. 101(bis): "J. P. Panini: Deux Tableaux de la plus riche composition: l'un représente l'intérieur de Saint-Pierre de Rome pris dans son point de vue le plus favorable & le plus heureux pour les effets de lumiere; il effet orné de figures distribuées avec art: le second Tableau offre la vue entiere de la place Saint Pierre & toute la face de ce temple fameux. Cet Artiste savant ne pouvoit choisir un lieu plus magnifique & plus spacieux pour y représenter l'entrée cérémoniale de M. le Duc de Choiseul lors de son ambassade à Rome....Hauteur 5 pieds 3 pouces, largeur 6 pieds 10 pouces. T. Ils ont fait partie de la Collection de M. le Duc de Choiseul."

Peter Björn Kerber has suggested an entirely different provenance prior to the ownership of William Lowther for this painting and its pendant, The Exit of the Duc de Choiseul on St. Peter’s Square in Rome (Gemäldegalerie, Staatliche Museen zu Berlin- Preussischer Kulturbesitz). Kerber posits that the abbé de Canilliac, a senior French representative in Rome, commissioned the pendants, rather than the duc de Choiseul, and identifies Canilliac as a figure in each of the paintings. (See Kerber, Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth Century Europe, exh. cat. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles; Minneapolis Institute of Art; Cleveland Museum of Art, Los Angeles, 2017: 57-59)

[2] The painting and its pendant were not among the twenty-five oils by Panini sold 5 August 1809 in Paris following Robert's death (Claude Gabillot, Hubert Robert et son temps, Paris, 1895: 257- 259, nos. 9-24; 249-250; 226-227; 253, nos. 275-277). In the 18 August 1821 inventory of the paintings and drawings in Madame Robert's estate, the paintings were described as follows: "275. Deux très riches compositions par J. P. Panini, représentant l'une l'intérieur de l'église de Saint-Pierre, l'autre l'entrée de M. de Choiseuil à Rome. Ces deux tableaux sont de la plus belle manière du mâitre, sans cadres. Prisés ensemble, 2,500 fr." (Gabillot 1895: 253).

[3] Vente de tableaux...Après le décès de Madame Robert, Paris, 1821: no. 55: "Panini. (Jean Paul) Deux tableaux faisant pendans, des plus importans qui soient sorti[e] du pinceau de ce peintre. Ces deux tableaux également intéressans représentent: l'un l'entrée de M. de Choiseuil à Rome, l'autre l'intérieur de l'Église Saint-Pierre.... L. 6 pi. 6 po, H. 5 pi."

[4] The painting, together with its pendant in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin, was removed from 14 and 15 Carlton House Terrace, London, not the Lowther seat, Lowther Castle, Westmorland. The pictures were described in the sale catalogue, no. 911, as: "P. Panini: A view of the exterior of St. Peter's at Rome, with a state procession of foreign Ambassadors, 60 x 76 inches," and bought by "Fairfax-Murray"; no. 912, as "P. Pannini: Interior of St. Peter's at Rome with numerous figures the companion, 60 x 76 inches," bought by Davis.

[5] "Unknown The interior of St. Peter's Rome, with numerous figures in XVIII century costume, 60 x 76 in." Information from Mrs. Langton Douglas, 28 February 1952, The Frick Art Reference Library, New York.

[6] Photographs at the Frick Art Reference Library, New York, and the Witt Library, Courtauld Institute, London, record ownership by the Sackville Gallery (Fern Rusk Shapley, Catalogue of Italian Paintings, 2 vols., Washington, D.C., 1979: 1:353, n. 9).

[7] After the 1955 death of the dealer/collector Contini Bonacossi, his heirs were left with a large art collection. In 1969 an agreement with the Italian government left the state 35 paintings and 12 sculptures, but others were sold. Among the latter was this painting, which, like many objects in the collection, had been purchased abroad and brought into Italy on a temporary import license, allowing it to be freely sold outside the country. The Thomas Agnew & Sons stockbook entry no. J5909 records their 1967 purchase of the painting from Friedenberg, who may have been an intermediary for the Contini Bonacossi heirs. The "J" in the Agnew stockbook indicates this was on joint ownership, but it is not clear with whom. See also Milton Gendel, "Italy. Saving with One Hand, Giving with Another," Art News LXXI, no. 4 (Summer 1972): 22-23, and A Dealer's Record: Agnew's 1967-81, London, 1981: 12, repro. 61.

Associated Names

Agnew & Sons, Ltd., Thomas
Choiseul, Etienne-François, duc de
Christie, Manson & Woods, Ltd.
Contini Bonacossi, Alessandro, Count
De Vere, 8th Earl of Essex, Algernon George
Friedenberg, M.
Knight, Frank & Rutley
Lowther, 2nd Earl of Lonsdale, William
Robert, Hubert
Sackville Gallery
Sale, Paris
Soos, Anne-Gabrielle

Exhibition History

1858: British Institution, London, 1858, no. 79.

1969: In Memoriam, Ailsa Mellon Bruce, National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C., 1969, unnumbered checklist.

1999: The Triumph of the Baroque: Architecture in Europe 1600-1750, La Palazzina di Caccia di Stupinigi, Turin; Montreal Mus. of Fine Arts; Natl. Gal. of Art, Wash., D.C.; Centre de la Vieille Charité, Marseille, 1999-2001, no. 8 (shown Montreal and D.C.).

Technical Summary

The support is a single-thread, plain-weave fabric of medium weight. Guidelines indicating the principal architectural forms were lightly incised into the thick, pinkish red ground before the application of paint. Many of the incised lines in the floor were not followed in the final painted design, although the fact that other incisions and painted details of the floor stop precisely at the figure groups indicates that a preliminary sketch of some sort was employed. The paint was smoothly and fluidly applied with quite small brushes for the figures and the architectural details. The basic forms were applied as a smoothly blended and modeled lower layer over which the highlights, shadows, and finer details were added, often with unblended, precise strokes, and with the aid of a straightedge for the architectural details. The overlying detailing of certain figures was applied so summarily that they appear unfinished; the old man with the walking stick at lower left and the man in the bright blue cape in the far left distance are examples.

The original tacking margins have been removed, but cusping on all four edges suggests that the composition retains its intended dimensions. The painting was probably lined just prior to its acquisition in 1968 and has not been treated since. There is severe abrasion in a narrow band extending along the bottom edge, scattered losses, and moderate abrasion of the figures and the architecture. The varnish is clear.

Bibliography

1937: Croft-Murray, Edward. "A Sketchbook of Giovanni Paolo Pannini in the British Museum." Old Master Drawings 11 (1937): 64.

1957: Levey, Michael. "Panini, St. Peter's and Cardinal de Polignac." The Burlington Magazine 99 (1957): 53-54.

1962: Wunder, Richard. "L' 'Interno di S. Pietro' del Panini a Ca' Rezzonico." Bollettino dei Musei Civici Veneziani 7 (1962): 12.

1971: Cott, Perry B. "The Ailsa Mellon Bruce Gifts." The Connoisseur 178 (December 1971): 251-252, fig. 2.

1975: European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 258, repro.

1979: Shapley, Fern Rusk. Catalogue of the Italian Paintings. 2 vols. Washington, 1979: 1:351-354; 2:pl. 255.

1981: A Dealer's Record: Agnew's 1967-81. London, 1981: 12, repro. 61.

1984: Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 346, no. 480, color repro.

1985: European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 298, repro.

1986: An Aspect of Collecting Taste. Exh. cat. Stair Sainty Matthiesen, New York, 1986: 33.

1996: De Grazia, Diane, and Eric Garberson, with Edgar Peters Bowron, Peter M. Lukehart, and Mitchell Merling. Italian Paintings of the Seventeenth and Eighteenth Centuries. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 1996: 193-198, color repro. 195.

2004: Hand, John Oliver. National Gallery of Art: Master Paintings from the Collection. Washington and New York, 2004: 243, no. 195, color repro.

2017: Kerber, Peter Björn. Eyewitness Views: Making History in Eighteenth-Century Europe. Exh. cat. J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles, 2017: 57, fig. 68.