Thecorpus of easel paintings by Gian Paolo Panini (1691—1765) prior to 1719 presented in F. Arisi's catalogue raisonné of Panini's work (1986) is to a great extent dependent on the hypothesis that the Preaching of an Apostle in Esztergom (Hungary) is an early work by Panini. This article argues that this painting is a copy of an untraced work by Giovanni Ghisolfi; that a great many other putative early Paninis are in fact by Ghisolfi, Alberto Carlieri, and others; and that Panini in his early years was not the pasticheur of Ghisolfi and others painters that he has been painted.