Panini and The Grand Tour

For the most part, Panini’s vedute, and most works of vedutismo were produced for individuals participating in the Grand Tour.  Historian Cesare De Seta refers to the Grand Tour as a “wandering academy” that led to the widespread circulation of antiquary objects and “reaffirmed the pan-European consciousness” throughout Western Europe.^[1]Essentially, Rome became a pillar for classical doctrine and cosmopolitan privilege.  While Panini was not producing the most lauded form of Academic painting, his compositions were praised by both British and French Academic painters due to the consistent subject matter--the city of Rome—which reflected the same values of order, simplicity, proportion, and harmony that are evident in history painting. Indeed, city-scape views of Rome captured the classical past and, in turn, represented a genre of great historical value.  European fixation upon classicism led to extensive travel and circulation of materials, attracting a considerable number of academic groups, which De Seta claims brought about a gradual secularization of religious antiquary.^[2] Whereas ancient Romans may have initially erected monuments to honor a deity, Emperor, or military victory, these monuments became spectacles of tourism and objects of study during the Grand Tour of the eighteenth century.