ROBERT, Hubert

This canvas dates from towards the end the artist’s lengthy sojourn in Italy, between 1754-1765, a period which was instrumental in shaping both his style and his reputation. The motif of the staircase was a favourite of Robert’s and appears in many other works. The low view point of the present composition suggests that this painting may have been intended as an overdoor.

The painting is signed and dated middle right on column: H. Robert/1763.

During his stay in Italy from 1754 to 1765 Robert made a large number of red chalk drawings of the most important sites in Rome. A signed preparatory drawing for this painting, depicting a scene in the grounds of the Villa Farnese, Rome, with a mother and child seated upon an antique stair, a classical rotunda beyond, is known.

This painting shows an architectural capriccio with an artist sketching in the foreground. It is characteristic of Robert’s late architectural capriccios.

Hubert Robert can be ranked with Jean-Honor� Fragonard as among the leading painters of the final years of the ancien r�gime. The soft Arcadian light of his work perfectly suited the rococo sensibilities of the time and he was hugely successful commercially, both with European and Russian clients. In his landscapes, both real and imaginary, he specialised in blending a description of atmospheric mood with a reverence for the past, filling his scenes with the classical ruins he had studied during his stay in Italy from late 1754 to 1765. After his return to Paris he continued to work in the same style, relying on his considerable notebooks of beautiful drawings, but also painted scenes of Paris and the surrounding area.

This architectural capriccio shows troubadours and washerwomen by a basin among Roman ruins, a pyramid beyond. At the centre, Robert recreates the commanding bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I de’ Medici, which had been unveiled in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence in 1594.

This small, finely executed painting is a good example of Hubert Robert’s refined art. Robert, a French painter of the second half of the 18th century, is known mainly for his landscapes decorated with imaginary architecture and little figures, in which happiness, reality and fiction, archaeological taste and sense of decoration are all mingled. Avenue in a Park is a late work in the painter’s career, testifying to the permanence of his style and to his taste for a nature that has been disciplined and made decorative by man.

The subject matter still reflects the “douceur de vivre” so dear to the 18th century. An avenue lined with trees with their tops intertwined leads the spectator towards the bottom of the garden. In the centre, a young girl is playing on a swing, activated by two companions. A group of people to the right are looking on. The whole painting bathes in a soft harmony of browns, greys and greens against a bluish sky background. The red coat of the man leaning against the pedestal catches the viewer’s eye. The antique statues - reposing satyr and faun playing a flute - flanking the tree-lined opening in the foreground had been earlier captured by Robert in a red chalk drawing of various Graeco-Roman sculptures conserved in the Capitol (Valence, Mus�e des Beaux Arts). The artist has repeated them here the other way round. The young musician in turn had appeared in several of Robert’s paintings.

Arriving in Rome in 1754, Robert stayed there for over 10 years. It is there that he met the Abb� de Saint-Non, Giovanni Battista Piranesi and in particular Gian Paolo Panini, who was to have a lasting influence on him. He also became friends with Fragonard. The little painting in Brussels confirms the close links between the art of “Robert of the Ruins” and Fragonard’s poetic universe. The avenue of trees also refers to the many parks and gardens in Italy and the Ile-de-France which were to nourish his imagination throughout his long and successful career. Robert exhibited at every salon from 1767 to 1798, becoming “designer of the King’s gardens” in 1777 and much later, after the revolutionary tumult, producing plans for converting the Grande Galerie of the Louvre into a museum.

Hubert Robert painted many views, both real and imaginary, of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre. His imaginary vies really constitute a set of designs for an ideal museum. When he painted this picture (the finest in the series) in 1796, the Galley was nothing but an interminably long corridor, lit only by side windows, which linked the Louvre to the Tuileries. The architects who were later responsible for the lighting and redecoration of the Grande Galerie were merely executing the original ideas of Hubert Robert. In this painting several of the masterpieces of the Museum Central can be recognized, notably Raphael’s Holy Family of Fran�ois I and Titian’s Entombment.

Hubert Robert’s great work was the realization of the Louvre Museum. A comparison of two of his paintings, the first showing a ruined barrel-vault hall, and the second the Grande Galerie in the Louvre, immediately reveals the source of the idea for the top lighting and the “antique effect” that the newly designed gallery is open to the sky. The sublimity of antique ruins was to be transferred to the real building, and this in turn was to be a treasure chest of art and a worthy successor to its antique models.

This large paiting, depicting figures under a bridge, with a man and dog on a boat in the foreground, was originally part of a group of nine works by the artist that adorned an interior at the H�tel de Massa, formerly at 111 Rue La Boetie, Paris. The other canvases of the series are scattered in various, mostly private, collections.

This large paiting, depicting figures under a bridge, with a man and dog on a boat in the foreground.

Robert created imaginary views of landscapes with buildings and picturesque motifs in romantic locations, all of which far removed from reality. The Fountain on a Palace Terrace exemplifies the way that the artist painted pastoral scenes in a theatrical architectural setting.

This painting belongs to a series depicting partly imaginary, partly later realized plans to transform the Grande Galerie of the Louvre into an exhibition space. Ten paintings of the series are exhibited in the Mus�e du Louvre.

This detail shows a painter working on a view of the Pantheon in Rome.

French painting in the second half of the 18th century displays the overlapping or intermingling of pre-Romantic and Neoclassical pictorial ideas, and nowhere is this clearer than in the work of the ‘painter of ruins’, Hubert Robert. He obtained his ideas from Italy, where he admired the paintings of ruins by Giovanni Paolo Pannini, and witnessed the first excavations in Pompeii. Praised by Diderot, he was immediately consulted when antique pieces were to be placed in the park of Versailles. But his great work was the realization of the Louvre Museum. A comparison of two of his paintings, the first showing a ruined barrel-vault hall, and the second the Grande Galerie in the Louvre, immediately reveals the source of the idea for the top lighting and the “antique effect” that the newly designed gallery is open to the sky. The sublimity of antique ruins was to be transferred to the real building, and this in turn was to be a treasure chest of art and a worthy successor to its antique models.

Although it was primarily his classical landscapes which established Robert’s reputation, Robert was also a faithful recorder of the topography of Paris. The Bi�vre was a small river which ran into the larger river Seine on Paris’ left bank. Although no longer visible today, in Robert’s day it was used for a variety of local industries, including textile dyers, distilleries, breweries, tanners, flour mills, a soap factory and twelve laundries. The quarter surrounding it was one of the poorest in Paris and notorious for its slums.

The painting is signed and dated lower right: .H ROBERT: 1768..

The pair of paintings of identical size, Roman Figures under an Arcade and Roman Figures in a Cave, were executed by Robert during his stay in Rome. They recall the work of Pannini, one of Robert’s teachers, in their subject matter and colourful, classically draped figures amongst Roman ruins.

The pair of paintings of identical size, Roman Figures under an Arcade and Roman Figures in a Cave, were executed by Robert during his stay in Rome. They recall the work of Pannini, one of Robert’s teachers, in their subject matter and colourful, classically draped figures amongst Roman ruins.

The subject of the barrel-vaulted gallery with its ionic orders is related to one of Robert’s architectural projects, the redesign of the “Grande Galerie du Louvre.” From 1778 he was part of a study group with the task of redesigning the Grande Galerie as part of the construction of a major museum in the former Royal Palace.

Usually enchanted by romantic, suggestive spectacle of ruins, Hubert Robert could also respond to the reverse - to the miracle of the survival of antiquity’s monuments intact. At Nimes, in the Provence, the so-called Maison Carr�e provides one of the best known of Roman buildings still to convey its original ancient state. Robert turned to this extraordinary site as the antithesis of his usual delight in decay.

This view is taken from Bernini’s colonnade in St. Peter’s Square.

The art of Hubert Robert lies in a perfectly controlled balance combining the representation of architectural motifs with everyday life scenes. Some figures placed here and there wander about in this monumental decor hence enlivening this famous site and revealing the magnificence of the eternal city.

This canvas shows souvenirs of the Roman countryside and daily life with its inhabitants mingling with classical references- Probably it belonged to a set depicting the four seasons, designed for overdoors.

Robert received a commission for four decorative panels depicting the antiquities of Provence for a drawing-room in the Château de Fontainebleau the series was exhibited at the Salon of 1787 under the collective title The Principal Monuments of France. This painting belongs to the series.

The founding of the French Academy in Rome was a way of establishing a durable relationship between the two countries. By 1720-30 all French painters were going to Italy, either through the official academy system or by other means, as was the case for Hubert Robert.

Rome’s ancient ruins was a source of inspiration in the late 18th century, as this drawing shows. Distorting the proportions of the scene like Piranesi, Robert composed an architectural “capriccio” from a number of set pieces that were freely designed and rendered in the manner of veduta. The artist of the title is seen sketching the gigantic Borghese Vase on a square above the Forum, which had a view to the Coliseum - a building whose vertical dimensions Robert extended by adding an additional series of arcades. The Borghese Vase was actually never exhibited close to the Coliseum, but was situated in the Borghese gardens. The inscription illuminates an idealized relationship to Antiquity: Rome’s former glory is still revealed in its ruins. With the brownish red-chalk crayon typical of the late 18th century, Robert achieved subtly drawn as well as painterly effects. The fragile, delicate contours and the schematic manner in which the foliage of trees is depicted recall the Rococo.

Laoco�n is an antique marble group (Vatican Museum) representing the Trojan priest Laoco�n and his two sons being crushed to death by serpents as a penalty for warning the Trojans against the wooden horse of the Greeks, an incident related by Virgil in the Aeneid. It is usually dated to the 2nd or 1st century BC or the 1st century AD, although whether it is an original Hellenistic piece or a Roman copy has long been a matter of dispute. Pliny states that in his time it stood in the palace of the Emperor Titus in Rome and records that it was made by the sculptors Hagesander, Polydorus, and Athenodorus of Rhodes.

The sculpture had disappeared, and its rediscovery in a vineyard in Rome in 1506 made an overwhelming impression, notably on Michelangelo, who went to see it immediately. Its liberating influence for the expression of the emotions continued to be important for Baroque sculptures.

This oval canvas was probably commissioned to decorate a middle-class home. In this painting we can see a figure painting, almost obscured by shadows. It is sketching from life, and therefore conveys the message that Robert’s art is based on empirical experience and that his scenes reproduce real life.

Hubert Robert, a decorator of great notoriety, joined in the new trend for English gardens and, also deeply inspired by the classical models that he saw in Rome, took part in the renewal of French taste. He recorded the transformations of the grounds at Versailles. In 1777, after being named dessinateur des jardins du roi, the artist presented Louis XVI with his plans for the new Bains d’Apollon.

Hubert Robert, a decorator of great notoriety, joined in the new trend for English gardens and, also deeply inspired by the classical models that he saw in Rome, took part in the renewal of French taste. He recorded the transformations of the grounds at Versailles. In 1777, after being named dessinateur des jardins du roi, the artist presented Louis XVI with his plans for the new Bains d’Apollon.

Hubert Robert, a decorator of great notoriety, joined in the new trend for English gardens and, also deeply inspired by the classical models that he saw in Rome, took part in the renewal of French taste. He recorded the transformations of the grounds at Versailles. In 1777, after being named dessinateur des jardins du roi, the artist presented Louis XVI with his plans for the new Bains d’Apollon.

Robert received a commission for four decorative panels depicting the antiquities of Provence for a drawing-room in the Château de Fontainebleau the series was exhibited at the Salon of 1787 under the collective title The Principal Monuments of France. This painting belongs to the series.

Hubert Robert was a specialist in depicting romantic ruins. He played a significant role in the spread of a fashion for landscape parks containing replicas of ancient edifices. The Maison Carr� in Nimes is a 1st-century Roman temple that has survived virtually intact; it served as one of the main models for Neoclassical architecture.

Hubert Robert, who learned his trade during a long journey through Italy, was a very productive artist. He took over from Pannini the theme of ruins, but in his hands it became less dry and more picturesque.

Robert received a commission for four decorative panels depicting the antiquities of Provence for a drawing-room in the Château de Fontainebleau the series was exhibited at the Salon of 1787 under the collective title The Principal Monuments of France. This painting belongs to the series.

The Ponte Solario, constructed in the fourth century B.C., is one of the oldest of Roman bridges. It spans the river Aniene near its confluence with the Tiber, at a location just north of Rome. The bridge underwent numerous transformations which are well chronicled. The crenellated tower serving as a tollhouse in Robert’s time was a medieval addition to the bridge. In this composition Robert was inspired by the example of Piranesi, whose etching of the bridge was executed in the mid-0750s.

In the history of the veduta, bridges were seen as “‘emblematic of the passage of life.” Robert exploited the motif throughout his career. He produced two versions of The Ponte Solario, the other version, executed in 1783, being in a private collection.

The Villa Aldobrandini in Frascati was reconstructed by the leading Roman architect of the period, Giacomo della Porta in 1601 and was completed soon after the architect’s death in 1602, under the supervision of Carlo Maderno. It was one of the most important inspirations for 17th- century Baroque villas in Italy. The greatest achievement of Carlo Maderno’s design was the grand Teatro delle Acque, so called for the niche sculptures which frame the fountain and which were designed by Giovanni Gugliemi featuring a hydraulic delivery system.

This painting was Robert’s diploma work. It is a French adaptation of Panini’s theatrical panoramas (he owned several canvases by Panini) and the fantastic, nostalgic, and grandiose aspect of Piranesi’s engraving.

Robert is known to have visited Caprarola in 1761 and 1764. On both occasions he produced a number of drawings and paintings which would serve him as models for later capricci. The figures, most usually washerwomen (as here), are shown engaged in everyday activities and are set in dramatic architectural surroundings in various states of decay and disrepair.

Hubert Robert in his large-scale decorative works was often conventional, but in his works on a small-scale he was a very fine painter, with a sensitive and spontaneous technique.

Executed after Robert’s return to France from Italy, this peasant life scene is a reflection of the French taste for rural pleasures. Washerwomen, shepherds and children are depicted among a verdant setting crossed by dirt paths leading to a mill. It evokes the romantic English gardens and their mill houses, which the painter knew well after designing a few parks.

The painting was cut on the sides.