GIOVANNI PAOLO PANINI | FIGURES AMONG ROMAN RUINS; FIGURES IN A GARDEN WITH WATER SPRINGS: A PAIR

Anonymous sale, New York, Sotheby's, 11 January 1996, lot 117;

From whom acquired by the present collector. 

When last sold at auction (see Provenance), Fernando Arisi endorsed the attribution of this pair to Panini. He dated them to before 1719, and further suggested that the turbaned figure in the latter work is a self-portrait of the artist. The "giochi d'acqua" or hidden water jets depicted here were common features in well appointed 18th century gardens. A small number of canvases depicting these modern water fountains were painted by Panini circa 1715 (see F. Arisi, Gian Paolo Panini, 1986, pp. 251-253, cat. now. 65-67, 70). A similar dating of the present pair would therefore seem plausible.