Interior of the Pantheon, Rome

The Cleveland Museum of Art catalogs Interior of the Pantheon, Rome as painting (Italy · 1747).

WHY IT’S INTERESTING

Panini's depictions of contemporary and ancient Rome were popular with foreigners who visited the city on their Grand Tours.

SERENDIPITYA little unexpected

FamiliarWeird

A CLOSER LOOK

The museum identifies this painting as oil on canvas and credits Giovanni Paolo Panini (Italian, 1691–1765).

The museum's collection notes: Created as a temple under the Roman emperor Hadrian around the year AD 125, the Pantheon became a Christian church in 609. Significant restoration took place in the early 1700s, a period of renewed attention to early Christian monuments. The site was a major monument of antiquity, an active church, and its portico, visible through the door, held the most important art fair in the city. Panini shows the complexity of this public space by representing foreign tourists, local churchgoers, Roman nobles, and artists mingling under the dome.

FOLLOW THE EVIDENCE

The Cleveland Museum of ArtInterior of the Pantheon, Rome

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