Two Women Seen from Behind

Hubert Robert prints bring the romance of ancient ruins, overgrown temples and splashing fountains into your home. Known as "Robert des ruines", Robert spent eleven years in Rome and returned to Paris to paint capriccios, gardens and the changing city, from the demolition of the Bastille to burning theatres. Our collection of fine art prints includes his Roman views, garden scenes, Paris events and red-chalk drawings.

About Hubert Robert

Hubert Robert was born in Paris on 22 May 1733. His father served the Marquis de Stainville, and after studying with the Jesuits Robert trained with the sculptor Michel-Ange Slodtz, who taught him design and perspective. In 1754 he went to Rome in the train of the Marquis's son, the new French ambassador.

He stayed in Rome for eleven years. He worked in the studio of Giovanni Paolo Panini and moved in the circle of Piranesi, whose overgrown ruins influenced him so strongly that he became known as Robert of the Ruins. He sketched at Tivoli, Caprarola and Pompeii, filling albums he drew on for the rest of his career.

Back in Paris in 1765 he quickly joined the Academy, and his first Salon in 1767 drew praise from Denis Diderot. He became Designer of the King's Gardens and Keeper of the King's Pictures. Arrested in 1793 during the Revolution, he spent ten months in prison, painting and drawing throughout, and narrowly escaped the guillotine. Afterwards he sat on the committee for the new national museum at the Louvre. He died in Paris on 15 April 1808.

Style and Subjects

Robert's paintings mix grand architecture with everyday life: washerwomen at an ancient fountain, children playing on a broken staircase, visitors sketching in a gallery of statues. Real and imaginary buildings are combined freely in his capriccios.

His palette is soft and warm, with golden stone, misty skies and green foliage. In Paris he also recorded real events, such as the demolition of the Bastille and fires at the Opéra and the Hôtel-Dieu, and he imagined the Louvre's Grand Gallery both renovated and in ruins.

Famous Works

• The Port of Rome (1766). His reception piece for the Academy, a capriccio of ancient and modern monuments.
• Le Décintrement du pont de Neuilly (1772–1775). The new bridge at Neuilly as its temporary supports are removed in 1772.
• The Bathing Pool (about 1780), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Bathers at a classical pool in a wooded garden, from a series of decorative panels.
• The Fire of the Opéra (1781). The Paris opera house burning, seen from the gardens of the Palais-Royal.
• The Mouth of a Cave (1784), Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York. Figures at the opening of a rocky cavern, framed by light.
• The Bastille in the First Days of its Demolition (1789). The fortress being pulled down after the storming of July 1789.
• Imaginary View of the Grand Gallery of the Louvre in Ruins (1796), Musée du Louvre, Paris. The great gallery of the new museum imagined as a future ruin.

Decorating with Robert Prints

Robert's ruins and gardens bring a gentle, golden light to living rooms, dining rooms and hallways, and suit both classic French interiors and calm modern rooms with stone, linen and pale woods. Pairs and groups work well, since many of his pictures were made as decorative sets; The Cascades at Tivoli sits nicely beside a fountain scene.

The Paris event pictures suit a study or library, and the red-chalk drawings of Roman sites make a refined group for a bedroom or reading nook.

FAQ

Why was Hubert Robert called "Robert des ruines"?

In Rome he was strongly influenced by Piranesi's pictures of overgrown ancient ruins. Ruins became his favourite subject, earning him the nickname "Robert of the Ruins".

What art movement was Hubert Robert part of?

Robert is usually placed among the early Romantic landscape painters of eighteenth-century France. He is best known for capriccios, imaginary or semi-imaginary views of ruins.

Was Hubert Robert involved with the Louvre?

Yes. He was Keeper of the King's Pictures and after the Revolution sat on the committee that set up the national museum at the Louvre. He painted the Grand Gallery both as planned and as an imagined ruin.

Was Hubert Robert imprisoned during the Revolution?

He was arrested in October 1793 and held for ten months, during which he painted at least 53 pictures. He was freed a week after the fall of Robespierre.

Where can I see Hubert Robert's paintings?

Major works are in the Louvre, the Metropolitan Museum of Art, the Musée Carnavalet in Paris and the Gemäldegalerie in Berlin.

Related Artists

• Giovanni Paolo Panini: painter of Roman views in whose studio Robert worked
• Giovanni Battista Piranesi: etcher of Roman ruins who shaped his style
• Jean-Honoré Fragonard: French painter who also sketched in Italy at the same time
• Claude-Joseph Vernet: French landscape painter of the same era