Rome Observed and Arranged and Recorded

Willem Schellinks
Interior of Roman ruins, probably the Colosseum
ca. 1627-28
drawing
Royal Collection, Windsor

"The closest relationship possible between patron and artist was the one frequently described by seventeenth-century writers as servitù particolare.  The artist was regularly employed by a particular patron and often maintained in his palace.  He was given a monthly allowance as well as being paid a normal market price for the work he produced.  If it was thought that his painting would benefit from a visit to Parma to see Correggio's frescoes or to Venice to improve his color, his patron would pay the expenses of the journey.  The artist was in fact treated as a member of the prince's 'famiglia', along with courtiers and officials of all kinds.  The degree to which he held an official post varied with the patron; though some princes might create an artist nostro pittore 'with all honors, authority, prerogatives, immunities, advantages, rights, rewards, emoluments, exemptions and other benefits accruing to the post', such a position was more frequent with architects than with painters.  In most cases within the prince's retinue there was a sliding scale of rewards and positions up which the artist might move on promotion.  Thus from 1637 to 1640 Andrea Sacchi was placed in Cardinal Antonio Barberini's household among three slaves, a gardener, a dwarf and an old nurse; in the latter year he was moved up to the highest category of pensioners with writers, poets and secretaries."

– from Patrons and Painters: Art and Society in Baroque Italy by Francis Haskell (Yale University Press, 1980)

Jean Lemaire
Architectural capriccio with Roman ruins
before 1659
drawing
British Museum

Lievin Cruyl
Study of the Pantheon, Rome
ca. 1664-78
drawing
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Gian Paolo Panini
Capriccio with Roman ruins
figures examining relief fragment
ca. 1730
drawing
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Paul Angier after Gian Paolo Panini
Scene of soldiers beholding ancient ruins
1749
etching
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Anonymous photographer
St Peter's Square, Rome
ca. 1850-59
salted paper print
Getty Museum, Los Angeles

Alessandro Specchi
Cutaway of St Peter's, Rome
1687
engraving
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Fratelli Alinari
Interior of St Peter's, Rome
ca. 1893-1903
photograph
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Johann Ulrich Kraus
Jubilee Year of 1700 in St Peter's, Rome
ca. 1760
etching
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Francesco Villamena after Michelangelo
Capital design for Capitol building
1619
engraving
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

Francesco Villamena after Michelangelo
Capital design for Capitol building
1619
engraving
Teylers Museum, Haarlem

François Marius Granet
Church of Trinità dei Monti and Villa Medici, Rome
ca. 1808
wash drawing
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York

manner of Michiel Sweerts
Market scene in Rome, Piazza Navona
ca. 1650-80
oil on canvas
Rijksmuseum, Amsterdam

Simon Denis
Study of clouds with sunset near Rome
ca. 1786-1801
oil on paper
Getty Museum, Los Angeles