The Interior of St Peter's

This puts us high above the floor of the basilica, gazing down through the vast nave towards the far distance and the now tiny tomb of Saint Peter, while small figures move across the tiled expanse below, suggesting the immense scale of the basilica. The pattern of light and shadow, with the sunbeams cascading through the upper windows and domes, creating patches of light across the vaulted ceiling and aisles with other places in the structure in cool shadow, and the heavy layering of verticals, diagonals, and sweeping curves, propel the viewer deeper and deeper into the construction without ever letting them take their eyes off the foreground. All surfaces are treated with the same meticulous attention: the ceiling of the nave is decorated with gilded coffers, the floor with a fine decoration of squares and rectangles, and the sculptural forms mounted on the upper arches are treated as less a devotional image, and more like an architectural record. It was not a result of any accident: over the course of several decades, Panini produced some thirty views of the interior of St Peter's and together they form almost a visual chronicle of the actual alterations to the basilica's space between the 1730s and early 1750s, while each single painting also constitutes a fine souvenir for any of the European visitors who were his main market. This particular version seems to be based on a previous work which is currently in the Louvre and was commissioned around 1730 by the French ambassador to the Vatican, Cardinal de Polignac, in other words it is an attempt by Panini to adapt one of his successful formulas for a new patron. Although the base of the pier on the far left is signed by Panini, it was likely done almost entirely by his studio, where his demand for work had grown to such an extent during this early period in his career that he could not keep up.