Giovanni Paolo Panini - The Interior of St Peter's, Rome [before 1742]

Giovanni Paolo Panini - The Interior of St Peter's, Rome [before 1742], a photo by Gandalf's Gallery on Flickr.

Panini specialised in architectural views and painted several pictures showing the interior of Saint Peter's in Rome. The viewpoint he has adopted here shows the vast scale and the splendour of the building. At the far end is Bernini's bronze canopy, erected between 1624 and 1633 over the tomb of Saint Peter. Certain details of the decoration of the basilica allow the work to be dated to the 1730s. Among the visitors are a cardinal with his party, members of various religious orders and lay people who kneel in prayer. In spite of the signature (which actually gives the artist's name incorrectly) the painting was probably executed with much assistance from Panini's studio.

[Oil on canvas, 149.8 x 222.7 cm]