The Temple of Diana

The Italian painter Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765) was famed for his capricci, architectural caprices, whims or fantasies, forged from the imagination. He was taught the art of painting illusionistic architecture by the stage deisgner Francesco Galli-Bibiena, moving to Rome in 1711, where he studied figure painting with Benedetto Lutti. He then moved to the studio of Andrea Locatelli. It was common practice for an artist to choose to specialise in one particular field; in the 17th century for example, some portraitists employed one specialist in fabric and costume painting while getting another to liven up an image by painting landscape in the background.

Panini's reputation eventually outstripped that of Locatelli, and he became a member of the prestigious Accademia de San Luca. Like many artists he became fascinated by the science of optics (a subject he later taught at the French Academy in Rome) and may have used a camera obscura, a device popular with artists which allowed them to record architectural details accurately. A precursor of the pinhole camera, its size could vary from a small box to a room-sized construction and it worked on the principle of light passing through a small aperture which reproduced the view upside-down on an opposing wall or screen in colour. This could be traced and inverted.

Panini was skilled at combining classical ruins with imaginary elements, an example of which can be seen in The Temple of Diana, probably painted by someone in his studio. The circular form was derived form two famous ruins, the Temple of Vista in the Roman Forum, and an even more important example, the Temple of Vesta at Tivoli, whose elegant form looms above a wood-clad ravine in the distance. In another painting (Private collection, Naples), Prayer to Esculapius on the Tiburine Island, Panini accurately reproduced the temple at Tivoli, its single row of Corinthian columns clearly delineated, and without figures surrounding the slightly pointed dome. However, unlike the famous 18th century printmaker Giambattista Piranesi, who recorded accurate architectural detailing within his prints but animated them by sometimes 'reconstructing' the ruins as they would have been, as well as populating edifices with animated figures who, like us, are examining the detailing, Panini took a different kind of theatrical approach.  He preferred combining accurate figures and pediments with other detailing that was purely imaginative, as demonstrated in the sculptural figures that line the Temple of Diana. They animate the roof line, and while their drapery suggests that they might relate to known figures in mythology, the links are not necessarily clear.

The painting has suffered over the years, with the glazes that would have added a richness to the final work being removed through overcleaning, something that could even happen in the artist's own lifetime. However, these losses allow us to see clearly how the artist has changed his mind with some of the details, for they have revealed pentimenti (changes of thought). Two figures that were part of his original design, which were then painted over, have once again become visible as the surface glazes have thinned over time.

Sourced from: Mary Kisler, Angels & Aristocrats: Early European Art in New Zealand Public Collections (Auckland, 2010), pp. 144-46. 

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Not even the richest man could visit this magnificent location. It’s a ‘capriccio’ – an architectural caprice, whim, or fantasy, forged from the imagination.

The artist evokes the splendours of classical antiquity by constructing his very own Temple of Diana. He draws inspiration from two famous ruins, each named the Temple of Vesta, in the Roman Forum and the ancient town of Tivoli.  (Label text from European Splendour 1500-1800, Te Papa 2016-17).

Dr Mark Stocker   Curator, Historical International Art   December 2018