# Interior of Saint Peter's, Rome

**Giovanni Paolo Panini** (Italian, 1691–1765)  
c. 1754  
oil on canvas  
overall: 154.5 x 197 cm (60 13/16 x 77 9/16 in.) framed: 179.1 x 222.3 x 8.3 cm (70 1/2 x 87 1/2 x 3 1/4 in.)

Courtesy National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1968.13.2. [The museum's record](https://www.nga.gov/collection/art-object-page.50884.html).

## About this work

Giovanni Paolo Panini painted this in about 1754, aged 63. It is now at the National Gallery of Art in Washington, DC.

### What you’re looking at

The soaring, gilded vault of a central aisle of the inside of a church fills this horizontal painting. The ceiling of the nave curves up and away from us like a tunnel. It is lined with coffers, which have inset panels, decorated with gold. The light-filled nave angles down from the top center of the composition toward the lower left as it moves away from us. The white stone pillars supporting the barrel vault are intricately carved and decorated with pudgy, winged cherubs holding portraits of men, and aisles run parallel to the central nave to our left and right. In the side aisles, pink marble columns flank altars in chapels. At the far end of the church, the nave is interrupted where it opens into the light-filled crossing, before continuing beyond. Marking the space where the long hall of the church is intersected by a shorter arm to create a cross shape is a structure made of four twisting columns supporting a pointed canopy, all cast in bronze. Tiny men and women pray or gather in pairs and small groups along the nave. Some wear tattered clothing and others are elegantly dressed.

_Description from the National Gallery of Art._

### How it was made

- **Oil paint.** Pigment ground in a drying oil, usually linseed. It dries slowly, so painters could blend on the canvas, build up thin translucent glazes, and rework a picture over weeks. Canvas replaced wooden panels in the 1500s because it is lighter and can be rolled.

### [Giovanni Paolo Panini](https://www.ochreeditions.com/artists/giovanni-paolo-panini)

Italian, 1691–1765; born in Piacenza; died in Rome

## Facts

- Type: Painting
- The artist was 63
- Real size: about 61 × 78 in (155 × 197 cm). The original is larger than our largest print, 24 × 36 in, so every print is a reduction.
- Century: 18th century
- Subjects: interior, Religious, Rome, St. Peter's
- Colour: brown
- Rights: public domain (CC0 1.0); free to use for any purpose.

## Get it

- Free download, full resolution: https://img.ochreeditions.com/m/1539.jpg?dl=1
- Image: https://img.ochreeditions.com/a/1539/1920.jpg
- Giclée reproduction on Hahnemühle Photo Rag: 8 × 10 in $28; 11 × 14 in $38; 12 × 16 in $42; 16 × 20 in $56; 18 × 24 in $68; 20 × 30 in $86; 24 × 36 in $108
- Framed reproduction: 8 × 10 in $78; 11 × 14 in $98; 12 × 16 in $108; 16 × 20 in $138; 18 × 24 in $164; 20 × 30 in $208; 24 × 36 in $258
- Canvas reproduction: 8 × 10 in $58; 11 × 14 in $72; 12 × 16 in $79; 16 × 20 in $98; 18 × 24 in $118; 20 × 30 in $148
- Print-ready file: 8 × 10 in $2; 11 × 14 in $2; 12 × 16 in $3; 16 × 20 in $3; 18 × 24 in $3; 20 × 30 in $5; 24 × 36 in $5

Sizes stop where the museum's file would print below 150 pixels per inch. Everything sold is a reproduction, made to order. [Order a print](https://www.ochreeditions.com/art/interior-of-saint-peter-s-rome-nga-50884).