Pannini or Panini, Giovanni Paolo (jōvän`nē pä`ōlō pänēn`nē, pänē`nē), 1691–1765, Italian painter. Pannini abandoned the study of architecture for painting, becoming famed for his broad cityscapes, or vidute. His commemorative paintings of public events work tiny human figures into vast urban settings. In his paintings of ruins (e.g., Roman Ruins, Mus. di Capodimonte, Naples), he combined the landmarks of ancient and Renaissance Rome.

Pannini, Giovanni Paolo

or Giovanni Paolo Panini

(born 1691, Piacenza, Duchy of Parma and Piacenza—died 1765, Rome) Italian painter. After gaining fame for his fresco painting, he specialized in Roman topography and became the foremost artist in that field in the 18th century. His real and imaginary views of ancient Roman ruins embody precise observation and tender nostalgia and combine elements of late classical Baroque art with incipient Romanticism. His work was popular both with tourists and his peers: he was admitted to the Académie Française in 1732 and became its professor of perspective.