A Closer Look at iovanni Paolo Pannini’s Picture Gallery...

At first glance, Giovanni Paolo Pannini’s Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome (1757) reveals very little past the outsider-looking-in perspective we are given from Pannini’s perspective. In the center is the Duc de Choiseul surrounded by detailed views of Roman architecture including buildings, fountains, and monuments and several infamous sculptures from the 17th and 18th centuries. While looking at the painting, it is hard to pinpoint one focal point within the composition when the walls of the gallery are filled with paintings from the floor to the ceiling. The focus becomes about the space Pannini has created and it does not focus on one specific object or figure. Each view of Rome seen in the imagined gallery adds to the illusion of Rome as an ideal city and to the idea of its beauty. By showing a space that reflects this beauty through the numerous paintings, sculptures, and architecture Pannini’s painting transforms into an allegory. Even though thi s painting was commissioned to commemorate Rome, he is able to portray the city and its architecture through a well respected and scholarly environment uncharacteristic of any known space or time. These characteristics cause the which allows it by creating a fictitious These allegorical characteristics do not become known unless you take a closer look at Picture Gallery with Views of Modern Rome (1757). However by adding the Duke and several other people, the painting becomes more realistic and fulfills the