Giovanni Paolo Panini, 'Roman Ruins with Figures', about 1730

Panini glorified Rome in countless capricci scenes like this, in which a known monument is set within a fanciful arrangement of ruins. The crumbling stone pyramid here is based on the tomb of Caius Cestius in Rome, which remains one of the city’s best-preserved ancient buildings. All of the other elements are invented.

Remnants of the city’s classical past fill the foreground: broken columns, a statue on a chipped plinth, a damaged sarcophagus and, at the bottom left, a frieze decorated with a wolf, a symbol of Rome. The view is animated by figures wearing classical dress who gather among the ruins. A soldier in armour and a man in orange drapery walk towards the central group, several of whom are captivated by what the man in red is saying. Illuminated clouds gather over the rolling hills of the Roman countryside beyond while evening light peeps through the dilapidated columns to the left, falling across the middle ground and the high wall of the building to the far right.

This is probably one of the artist’s earlier works and can be dated to about 1730. He started his career as a stage designer and specialised mostly in view paintings of contemporary and ancient Rome. Although we don't know who first owned this picture, its small size and its subject matter might have made it desirable for British collectors on their Grand Tour who wished to take home a souvenir from their travels.

Panini painted many views of Rome taken from everyday life, such as The Interior of St Peter’s, and also captured important ceremonies, as in The Lottery in Piazza di Montecitorio. Like his imaginary scenes, these were particularly popular among foreign tourists to the city.