(Piacenza 1691–1765 Rome)
A Capriccio of roman ruins with the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina, The Colosseum, the Basilica of Maxentius and the Farnese Hercules;
A capriccio of classical ruins with the Temple of Vesta, the Maison Carrée at Nîmes, the Temple of the Sibyl at Tivoli, The Pont du Gard and the Borghese vase,
oil on canvas, each 73 x 98 cm, framed (2)

Provenance:
Colonel C.W. Menzies collection, 1941 (according to a label on the reverse); private collection, Rome;
sale Sotheby’s, London, 9. December 2006, lot 43 (as ‘Studio of Giovanni Paolo Panini’ );
European private collection.

Literature:
F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini e i fasti della Roma del ‘700, Roma 1986, under nos.. 278 and 279, p. 371 (as late fully autograph replicas).

These two paintings are considered by Arisi as high quality late autograph replicas of Panini’s compostions sold separately at auction in the 1990s (Capriccio with the Temple of Faustina, Colosseum and Farnese Hercules, London, Christie’s, 24 May 1991, lot 83; Capriccio with the Temple of Vesta, Maison Carrée, Temple of Fortuna at Tivoli and Borghese Vase, London, Christie’s, 7 July 1995, lot 102).

There are several preparatory drawings by Panini for these compositions in the Berlin Kupferstichkabinett, that can be related to the figures in the foreground (see the drawing in the Kupferstichkabinett, Berlin, no. 17574), as recurrent in different works. Arisi also related the two present paintings with a Capriccio executed in 1749 (Arisi, 1986, cat. no. 392, repr.; present location unknown).