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Giovanni Paolo Pannini

The Colosseum, ca. 1750

Now On View

Description

Maker

  • Giovanni Paolo Pannini, 1691-1765, Italian

Title

The Colosseum

Year

ca. 1750

Medium

Oil on canvas

Materials/Techniques

Materials

  • oil paint

Supports

  • canvas

Dimensions

41.3 x 74.6 cm (16 1/4 x 29 3/8 inches)

Signature / Inscription / Marks

On back:CFM King 59 FiCutNo gloss8015

Place

Italy

Type

  • Paintings

Credit

Museum Works of Art Fund

Object Number

56.094

About

Throughout the 18th century expansive compositions known as vedute (views) were much in demand as souvenirs of travel and as symbols of their owner’s sophistication. Many voyagers collected engravings of the capitals they visited, or sought paintings of famous sites for their art collections. The glories of ancient Rome, such as the Colosseum, were particularly desirable subjects for those who had participated in an educational “Grand Tour” of Europe. The setting of the Colosseum, the largest of Rome’s imperial monuments, was still relatively uncompromised by the modern city that would later surround it. Giovanni Paolo Pannini represents the great stadium as the dramatic feature of a bucolic landscape in which a tourist might well have encountered a shepherd and his flock.

On back:CFM King 59 FiCutNo gloss8015

Italy
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Exhibition History

Exhibition History

Intermission

December 16, 2016 - July 2, 2017

From the Reserve I

April 9 - August 3, 1994

Italian Painting

April 6 - August 25, 1990

Italian Art in Celebration of Rhode Island’s Italian Festival; Seven Centuries of Italian Art

April 12 - May 21, 1967

European Galleries

In the 1700s, city vistas such as this one—known as vedute (views)—were much in demand as souvenirs of travel and symbols of their owners’ sophistication. The glories of ancient Rome were particularly desirable subjects for those who had taken an educational Grand Tour of Europe. The Colosseum, the largest of Rome’s imperial monuments, was still relatively uncompromised by the modern city that would later surround it. Pannini records the great stadium as an 18th- century tourist might have seen it, set in a bucolic landscape and populated by the occasional shepherd and his flock.

Use

The images on this website can enable discovery and collaboration and support new scholarship, and we encourage their use. This object is in the public domain (CC0 1.0). This object is The Colosseum with the accession number of 56.094. To request high-resolution files or new photography, please send an email to imagerequest@risd.edu and include your name and the object's accession number.

Feedback

We view our online collection as a living documents, and our records are frequently revised and enhanced. If you have additional information or have spotted an error, please send feedback to curatorial@risd.edu.

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