A painting full of paintings!

Confused? This ten feet long painting, Vedute di Roma Antica, painted by Giovanni Paolo Panini in 1756-57, hangs in the Louvre, Paris. When I saw it first, I was mesmerised by the level of architectural details captured on the canvas! The painting depicts a massive vaulted hall, chockablock with Panini paintings-within-the-painting that show recognizable ancient Roman monuments. Scattered around the gallery, are several visiting art students and connoisseurs, and the painter himself presides in the center of it all. Unbelievably descriptive, the painting brings to life the historical and famous monuments of Rome, including the Colosseum, the Pantheon, the Column of Trajan , various triumphal arches dedicated to rulers of Rome, and other significant ruins of antiquity. The companion piece, Vedute di Roma Moderna(1757), presents a brighter yet equally jam-packed hall, filled wall-to-wall with paintings of noteworthy architectural achievements of the 18th century.

Pannini's paintings catered primarily to the French Aristocracy visiting Rome, who wanted to capture and store the views of Rome that so enthralled them. Many of them liked to return with evocative souvenirs of the classical sites visited during their Grand Tours of Rome.