Ancient Ruins Used as Public Baths

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.