[1] As a young man, Panini trained in his native town of Piacenza, under Giuseppe Natali and Andrea Galluzzi, and with stage designer Francesco Galli-Bibiena.

He taught in Rome at the Accademia di San Luca and the Académie de France, where he is said to have influenced Jean-Honoré Fragonard.

The Spanish monarchs appreciated his work in such a way that, commissioned by Filippo Juvarra, he sent paintings to decorate the Lacquer Room of the Royal Palace of La Granja de San Ildefonso.

His style influenced other vedutisti, such as his pupils Antonio Joli and Charles-Louis Clérisseau, as well as Canaletto and Bernardo Bellotto, who sought to meet the need of visitors for painted "postcards" depicting the Italian environs.

[citation needed] In addition to being a painter and architect, Panini was a professor of perspective and optics at the French Academy of Rome.