Background
Hubert Robert was born on May 22, 1733 in Paris, France. He was a son of Nicolas Robert, who served to François Joseph de Choiseul, marquis de Stainville — a leading French diplomat from Lorraine.
Rue Descartes, 75005 Paris, France
In 1751, Hubert Robert studied at the College of Navarre in Paris.
Viale della Trinità dei Monti, 1, 00187 Roma RM, Italy
While in Rome, the painter attended the French Academy.
Hubert Robert was born on May 22, 1733 in Paris, France. He was a son of Nicolas Robert, who served to François Joseph de Choiseul, marquis de Stainville — a leading French diplomat from Lorraine.
In 1751, Hubert Robert studied at the College of Navarre in Paris. Some time later, he enrolled at the atelier of the sculptor Michel-Ange Slodtz. The sculptor gave Robert design and perspective drawing classes, but encouraged him to turn to painting.
In 1754, Hubert left for Rome. There, he attended the French Academy, making sketches of ruins with Jean Honoré Fragonard and Giovanni Battista Piranesi at the same time.
While being in Rome, Hubert Robert met the French painter Jean-Honoré Fragonard and in 1760 they traveled together with the Abbé de Saint-Non through southern Italy on a drawing expedition. Robert was fascinated by architecture and ruins, and he was strongly influenced by Giovanni Battista Piranesi, the renowned etcher of architectural subjects, who was then publishing his great collections of etchings of Roman architecture. Hubert’s most important works from that period was a series of red chalk drawings of the gardens at the Villa d’Este, that feature the garden’s dilapidated Classical-style architecture set in an overgrown landscape and animated with small human figures.
Robert returned to Paris in 1765 and the following year he was elected a member of the Royal Academy of Painting and Sculpture. A talented decorative artist, he based his paintings on his Italian drawings and exhibited regularly at the Paris Salon from 1767 onward, which further enhanced his popularity. In addition to his portrayal of ruins, architecture and landscapes of Italian derivation, Robert also depicted his native France. His views of Paris are among his most topographically accurate.
In 1778, the painter was appointed a designer of the king’s gardens and produced a new grotto for the gardens at Versailles as well as an English-style garden at the château of Rambouillet for Louis XVI. In the 1780's and 1790's, Hubert produced a series of oil sketches of the Grande Galerie of the Louvre as part of a proposed replanning. At that time, he continued to paint Italian landscapes.
The painter was briefly imprisoned during the French Revolution, however, he continued to paint and draw. After the Revolution, some of his works were destroyed. In his later years, Robert also designed the decorations for a little theatre in the new wing at the location of the current staircase Gabriel in the Palace of Versailles.
A Scene in the Grounds of the Villa Farnese, Rome
The Pont du Gard
The Grande Galerie
The Terrace at Marly
Ancient Ruins Used as Public Baths
Imaginary View of Rome with Equestrian Statue of Marcus Aurelius, the Column of Trajan and a Temple
The Water Jet
Studio of an Antiquities Restorer in Rome
Imaginary View of the Grand Gallery of the Louvre in Ruins
Demolition of the Château of Meudon
The Fire of Rome, 18 July 64 AD
A Hermit Praying in the Ruins of a Roman Temple
The Washer Women
The Footbridge
Architectural Landscape with a Canal
Colosseum, Rome
Fantastic View of Tivoli
Draughtsmen in a Landscape with Antique Ruins
View of Ripetta
Ruins with an obelisk in the distance
Demolition of the Houses on the Pont Notre-Dame in 1786
The Arc de Triomphe and the Theatre of Orange
The Oval Fountain in the Gardens of the Villa d'Este, Tivoli
Démolition de l'église Saint-Jean-en-Grève - Musée Carnavalet
Architectural Fantasy
Washerwomen in the Ruins of the Colosseum
Imaginary View of the Grande Galerie in the Louvre
The Glade
The Old Bridge
Projet d'aménagement de la Grande Galerie du Louvre
An extensive landscape near Paris
Imaginary View of Rome with the Horse-Tamer of the Monte Cavallo and a Church
Robert’s contemporaries testified to his almost superhuman energy, agility, and capacity for work and for socializing. Also, he was a lively, intelligent and good-humored person.
Quotes from others about the person
"He had a natural wit, was highly cultivated but devoid of pedantry; and the inexhaustible gaiety of his character made him the most agreeable man you could hope to meet in society." — Élisabeth Vigée Le Brun, a painter