Giovanni Paolo Panini - inv. 4708

The painting, with his pendant represented Christ at the house of Simon the Leper now in a private collection, is a rare example of a holy subject by Giovanni Paolo Panini and it is of very high quality. The artist is in fact renowned for his profane subjects, painted after his move to Rome in 1711: monumental canvases showing feast-day celebrations, views of ruins, or the interiors of the most important contemporary collectors’ picture galleries.
In this canvas, Jesus calls Mathew, seated at his tax-collector’s table, and invites him to be one of his apostles. The artist depicts the faces of the tax collectors, the drapery folds of their multicoloured garments and the great striped fabric above them with the utmost precision.

M.B.