View of Piazza del Pantheon in Rome

This veduta illustrates one of the most famous scenes of ancient Rome with impeccable topographic precision: Piazza della Rotonda, also known as Piazza del Pantheon. The structure was built in 27-25 BC. It was completely torn down in 110, and rebuilt between 118 and 128. The twin bell towers visible on the fa�ade, designed by Bernini and dubbed “the ass’s ears”, were torn down in 1903.

Characterized by the very typical dry and elongated splashes of colour of figures dressed in the Venetian style and the diffused atmospheric light of the sky with its hazy cloud cover, the canvas was painted probably in the late 1740s or early 1750s.