Hubert Robert: 6 works

'For this imaginary basilica, Robert likely drew inspiration from a contemporary print by Giovanni Battista Piranesi.'

'It explicitly embodies a theme that remained constant throughout his career: the interaction between living nature and aged, slightly decaying buildings. He brought many such drawings back to Paris, where they served as sources for his paintings for many years.'

'He made many such drawings during his time in Italy and then used them as the basis for the paintings he made later in France. This scene may represent a specific temple that Robert visited in Rome and knew from engravings.'

'In 1754, Hubert Robert went to Rome in the entourage of his protector, the Comte de Stainville, French Ambassador to the Holy See. In Italy he visited the sites of classical antiquity and the captivating gardens around Rome, including the Villa d'Este in Tivoli.'

'In his youth he worked and studied with Fragonard, a louder talent by comparison, as both artists mastered the subtleties of a shared rococo style. In 1761 they travelled together to southern Italy, the wellspring of Robert's essentially classicising project.'

'Rather than documenting the site's actual appearance in that year, Hubert Robert combined fact and fiction, depicting features that had already vanished alongside still-existing elements of the structure.'