Landscape with the Arch of Titus

This early Landscape with the Arch of Titus, dated 1701 and now at the National Museum in Warsaw, is among the earliest known works by Panini, painted when he was only around fourteen years old if the date is accurate, or possibly when he was a young adult in his training years. The Arch of Titus, built after 79 CE to commemorate the emperor's victory over Jerusalem, stood at the south-east entrance to the Roman Forum and remained one of Rome's most legible surviving monuments. At this early date Panini had likely not yet travelled to Rome — he arrived around 1711 — making this composition based either on prints, drawings, or the works of other view painters. The Warsaw canvas reveals the classical landscape tradition absorbed in his training in Piacenza, while the confident deployment of the arch as a framing device anticipates his later architectural mastery.

The early dating of this work, if correct, makes it exceptional evidence for Panini's precocious skill. The arch is rendered with architectural competence, suggesting access to measured drawings or prints. The surrounding landscape is handled in the Bolognese classical tradition, with even tonal gradations across a warm, hazy distance.