Giovanni Paolo Panini

Giovanni Paolo Panini painted Rome for the people who came to see it. In the 18th century the city was the climax of the Grand Tour, and Panini supplied wealthy visitors with sharp, sunlit views of its ancient ruins and grand church interiors to carry home as souvenirs of the trip.

His cleverest invention was the picture-gallery painting. In these he imagined a great hall whose walls are hung, floor to ceiling, with dozens of his own small views of Roman sights, ancient Rome in one canvas and modern Rome in its pair. It is a painted catalogue of the city, and a quiet boast about how much of it he could render.

He also left one of the best records of the Pantheon's interior, the domed temple with its open eye to the sky. He taught perspective in Rome and married into a French family well connected at the Academy, which carried his fame to Paris.