Giuseppe Pannini or Panini (Rome, 1720–1810 or 1812[1][2] or possibly 1718–1805[3]), also Joseph Pannini, was an architect, scenographer and archaeologist living in Rome, capital of the Papal States, present-day Italy, in the transitory period between Late Baroque and Neoclassicism.[4][5]
Biography
Early life and family
Giuseppe Pannini was one of two sons of Giovanni Paolo Panini, a famed 18th-century Italian veduta painter and architect in Rome,[6] who, each, followed in their father's footsteps in other domains:[7]
Giuseppe Pannini was an architect, like his father, as well as an archaeologist, working in Rome. He used to co-sign prints representing his work with Joseph Pannini, Architectus.[8]
His brother Francesco Panini (Rome, 1745–1812),[9] was an architecture and landscape painter, draughtsman and publisher of prints, and collaborator of his father.[1]
Over time, Giuseppe and Francesco have been confused with the other. For instance, Bryan's Dictionary describes a short biography on Giuseppe that can only be about his brother Francesco.
Career
Not much is known of his career, but Giuseppe Panini is recognised as the architect having completed, in 1762, the construction of the Trevi Fountain after the death of Nicola Salvi, who made the initial design.[10][11]
High altar of the lost church of Sant'Isidoro in Rome, architect Joseph Pannini, engraving by Giuseppe Vasi (18th cent.)
Earlier, Pope Benedict XIV, born Prospero Lambertini, had commissioned Pannini to realise the church Sant'Isidore alla Terme (1754–1755), on the edge of the Baths of Diocletian in Rome.[2] Only the simple but pretty little baroque facade and a gutted interior space survive the demolition work done during archaeological investigations in 1940.
Mostly active in Rome, he not only created celebratory[12] or funerary[13] displays, often in collaboration with Ferdinando Fuga (Naples, 1700 – Rome, 1781), but he also provided architectural designs for the Palazzo Corsini (1751) and executed the ornately decorated cantoria, a gallery for musicians and singers, above the entrance of the church of Santa Maria della Scala (ca. 1756).[5][14]
In 1775, Pannini worked on the reconstruction and redecoration of the vaulted ceiling in the Santissima Trinità dei Monti church, at the top of the Spanish Steps.[15]
During the extensive restoration and transformation works by Duke Sforza-Cesarini[16] between 1781 and 1794, Pannini realised a decorative cycle with architectural perspectives using trompe l'œil techniques in the interior of the Palazzo Sforza Cesarini in Rome,[17] originally built in 1458 as the seat of the Apostolic Chancellery by Cardinal Rodrigo Borgia,[18] later renamed the Cancelleria Vecchia.
In 1789, Giovanni Volpato, a celebrated engraver and publisher of prints, collaborated with Giuseppe Pannini on commemorative prints showing the temporary funeral architecture that Pannini, in his capacity of architect and scenographer, built inside the church of the Santa Maria in Monserrato degli Spagnoli on the occasion of the death of Charles III of Spain in 1788.[19][20]
As an archaeologist, he worked on several ventures:
View of the ruins of the octagonal room in the ancient Roman Baths at Ocriculum (Umbria) and its floor mosaic (1779) by Francesco Panini, after an architectural design by Giuseppe Pannini, his brother. (Victoria & Albert Museum)Elevation and ground plan for the South Theatre (Odeon) at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (1753) by Giuseppe Pannini, architect & Paolo Fidanza, engraverElevation views of the South Theatre (Odeon) at Hadrian's Villa, Tivoli (1753) by Giuseppe Pannini, architect & Paolo Fidanza, engraver
In 1753 Cardinal Silvio Valenti, Pope Benedict XIV's Camerlengo, sent the architect Giuseppe Pannini to the site of the Odeum,[21] a Roman theatre on the estate of Hadrian's Villa, to report on the rumours that the Bulgarini family had been stripping the Ancient Roman monument of its last marble. His survey took the form of three large plates, engraved in copper by Carlo Fidanza,[22][23][24] (c. 1731–1775), of which two prints are now in the McNay Art Museum's collection.[25]
Pannini also took part in the pontifical excavations in the Umbrian town of Otricoli from 1775 onwards.[5] In the octagonal hall of the ancient Roman Baths of Ocriculum, a giant marble head of Jupiter, the Giove di Otricoli (1st C. BC), was unearthed under the direction of Giuseppe Pannini and Vincenzo Cecchi, around 1781–1782, which can now be seen in the Sala Rotonda in the Museo Pio Clementino.[26]
Maria Celeste Cola mentions that Giuseppe Pannini was commissioned in 1779 to reproduce the monumental octagonal floor mosaic (3rd C. A.D.) showing a fight between the Lapiths and centaurs and marine thiasos, also unearthed in Otricoli, now displayed in that same room at the Vatican Museums (inv. 45751).[27] Francesco Panini, his brother, made the coloured engraving shown on the right to mark this occasion.
Collections
The Rodolfo Lanciani Collection in Bergamo, Italy, holds a number of plain or coloured prints by both Francesco and Giuseppe Pannini.[28]
Further reading
Bryan, Michael (1904). "Entry on Giovanni Paolo Pannini & his son Giuseppe". In Williamson, George Charles (ed.). Dictionary of Painters and Engravers, Biographical and Critical. Vol. IV: N-R (new revised and enlarged ed.). London: George Bell and Sons. pp. 62–63.
^ ab"Pannini, Giovanni Paolo nell'Enciclopedia Treccani". www.treccani.it (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-04-25. Translated: Of his sons, Giuseppe (Rome 1720 – 1812), was architect and archaeologist, Francesco (Rome 1725 circa – there after 1794), collaborator of his father, was the author of views for engravings.
^"Pannini, Gian paolo in "Enciclopedia Italiana"". Treccani (in Italian). Retrieved 2023-04-25. Translated: In 1724 he had married Miss Gossert, sister-in-law of Wengkels, director of the French Academy, with whom he had two sons: Giuseppe the architect and Francesco the painter, who followed in his father's footsteps and manners.
^Canina, Luigi (1856). "Gli edifizj antichi dei Contorni di Roma, cogniti per alcune reliquie, descritti e dimostrati nella loro intera architettura dal commendatore Luigi Canina. Volume V – Parte V: Gli edifizj dei luoghi adiacenti alle vie Tiburtina, Valeria e Sublacense" [The ancient edifices of the Roman Surroundings, known for certain relics, described and demonstrated in their entire architecture by Professor Luigi Canina. Volume V – Part V: The buildings of the places adjacent to the via Tiburtina, Valeria and via Sublacense] (in Italian). Roma: Stabil. Tipogr. di G. A. Bertinelli. pp. 153–154, 183–184. Retrieved 2023-04-29 – via Arachne. (pp.153–154:) E con disegni, oltre la informe veduta delle fabbriche della villa Adriana esposta assai imperfettamente dal Palmucci in una grande Tavola, e della particolare dimostrazione del teatro più conservato esibita in tre Tavole nell'anno 1753 da Giuseppe Pannini ; (p. 184:) E solamente si crede opportuno di far cenno dei disegni rilevati dalle reliquie superstiti dello stesso teatro dall'architetto Giuseppe Pannini di commissione del cardinal Valenti e pubblicati in tre grandi Tavole nell'anno 1753 ; giacchè per meglio verificarne la forma furono fatti da lui nuovi scavi e prese in più distinta considerazione le scoperte anteriori.
^Fèa, Carlo (1806). "Annotazioni alla memoria sui diritti del principato sugli antichi edifizj publici sacri e profani dell'avvocato d. Carlo Fèa" [Annotations to the memoir on the rights of the principality over ancient sacred and profane public buildings by the lawyer Dr. Carlo Fèa.] (in Italian). Roma: presso Lazzarini Stampatore della Rev. Cam. Apostolica. pp. 119–120. Retrieved 2023-04-29 – via Arachne. L'altro Teatro della Villa Adriana, conosciuto fin dal tempo di Pirro Ligorio, e Francesco Contini, meglio scoperto, e quindi rilevato colle sue parti da Giuseppe Pannini, e inciso da Paolo Fidanza in 3 gran fogli nel 1753, col suo Tempio in cima, può dare un'idea più perfetta di quello di Pompeo, di cui mostra non avere avuto alcuna notizia l'architetto Pannini, scrivendo ivi nella relazione, e dedica al Card. Valenti, Segretario di Stato, e Camerlengo di S. Chiesa, di dare in tre stampe espresse le forme, e misure esattissime di sì illustre edifizio, che da una specie di Tempietto rotondo, quale nel centro dell' emiciclo delia scalinata su un ripiano osservasi, cosa non mai veduta in altri antichi Teatri, rendesi singolarissimo.
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