Eighteenth Century Visions

Hubert Robert (1733-1808)

A French painter so famous for his paintings and drawings of antique ruins in Italy and ruined buildings around Paris that he acquired the nickname of 'Robert des Ruines'. Perhaps the most remarkable are a pair of paintings that Robert produced in 1796. The first shows a view of his design for a gallery in the Louvre (Project d' Aménagement de la Grande Galerie); the second, a view of the same gallery in ruins (Vue Imaginaire de la Grande Galerie en Ruines).

Radisch suggests that this second picture—far bleaker than his other more traditional paintings with its human derelicts huddling around a brazier—represents a political commentary by the artist. His imprisonment in the early 1790s, brought about a drastic change in his sentiment, and he was representing the ruin brought about by the Revolution.

Hubert Robert (1796) Project d'Aménagement de la Grande Galerie



Hubert Robert (1796) Vue Imaginaire de la Grande Galerie en Ruines



Hubert Robert - The Old Bridge

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Links

The Louvre

"The Old Bridge" at the National Gallery in Washington

ROBERT ... and another page on Robert