Roman Capriccio: The Pantheon and Other Monuments

Possibly Jean-Baptiste Guillaume [1729-1802], known as Abbé de Gevigney, Paris, France; possibly sale at (Paillet, Paris) in 1779;{1} Alexandre-Joseph Paillet [1743-1814].{2} Possibly Duke of Norfolk, Beechill, Yorkshire, England.{3} (Arturo Grassi, New York, New York); {4} purchased for the John Herron Art Institute, Indianapolis, Indiana, now the Indianapolis Museum of Art at Newfields, in 1950. {1} A.J. Paillet, Paris, Catalogue d’une riche Collection de Tableaux des Peintres les plus célebres des different ecoles…qui composent le cabinet de M. ***[Gevigny, Abbé de], 1-29 December 1779, no. 34 as “Jean-Paul Pannini, Deux … Tableaux …représentant ce que les Ruines de antiquités romaines.” The identification of the Abbé de Gevigny and Paillet as former owners is made by JoLynn Edwards, Alexandre-Joseph Paillet: Expert et marchand de tableaux à la fin du XVIIIe siècle, Paris 1996, pp. 236-7. The IMA painting is dated 1735, though the final digit of the date is identified as a “7” in the 1779 auction catalogue, though the subject matter description matches the view that features the colosseum. The pendant that is described in the 1779 auction catalogue does not match the IMA painting’s pendant, (50.6) which lacks the Farnese Hercules. {2} Edwards indicates that Paillet bought 61 canvases out of the Abbé de Gevigney Sale. If this painting was one of them, it was a pendant to another painting and not yet “paired” with the IMA’s other Roman Capriccio (50.6). See footnote above. {3} This information is presumed to come from Grassi at the time of purchase, and has not been corroborated. {4} Grassi corresponded with the IMA director, Wilbur Peat, in June 1950 about the identification of some of the sculptures depicted in this painting. Interestingly, Grassi’s wife, Cornelia Lemcke, was a native of Indianapolis, and they spent time in Indiana regularly.