- 68
Hubert Robert
Estimate
60,000 - 80,000 USD
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Description
- Hubert Robert
- Grotta di Posillipo
- monogrammed or inscribed on the verso: R
- oil on earthenware plate
- diameter 6 1/8 in.; 15.5 cm.
Provenance
Jean Nicolay, France, by 1958;
Sold at auction at Stukker, Berne 1990s;
Where acquired by the parents of the current owners;
Thence by descent to the current private collection, Germany.
Sold at auction at Stukker, Berne 1990s;
Where acquired by the parents of the current owners;
Thence by descent to the current private collection, Germany.
Exhibited
Kunsthalle Hamburg, EUROPA 1789, 17 September - 19 November 1989, no. 197.
Literature
J. Nicolay, “Les Assiettes Prison D’Hubert Robert”, Conaissance des Arts, April 1958, pp. 36 – 41, no. 2, repr. on page 36.
Condition
The following condition report has been provided by Simon Parkes of Simon Parkes Art Conservation, Inc. 502 East 74th St. New York, NY 212-734-3920, simonparkes@msn.com, an independent restorer who is not an employee of Sotheby's.
This work is in lovely condition. There are no retouches, except for possibly one spot in the lower right above the kneeling figure in the beige gown. It may be slightly dirty, but it could also be hung in its current state.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."
Catalogue Note
On October 29, 1793, at the beginning of the Terror, Hubert Robert was arrested and jailed by the Revolutionary authorities for having failed to renew his citizen's card. He was held initially at the convent of Sainte-Pélagie and transferred, on the night of January 30-31, 1794, to the seminary of Saint-Lazare, the site of a former leper's house. He was not released until after the fall of Robespierre in July of that year. While imprisoned, he consoled himself by painting and drawing (fig. 1). Materials on which to paint were scarce and he began to use the earthenware prison plates on which his food was served as his "canvases." While some of these plates depict scenes of life within the prison, the majority are landscapes.
The present painting depicts a group of figures in the Grotta di Posillipo in Naples; its dark and dramatic lighting recalls the moody prison scenes of Magnasco and Goya, as well as the famous Carceri etchings by Piranesi. Robert spent a little over a decade in Italy, and during that time completed a drawing expedition to the southern city in 1760 with the Abbé de Saint-Non, whom he met in Rome. Robert, a prolific artist, would return to his sketches of Italy throughout his career for inspiration in his paintings, though it is likely that the present work (as it was painted while he was imprisoned) came from the artist's memory.
The present painting depicts a group of figures in the Grotta di Posillipo in Naples; its dark and dramatic lighting recalls the moody prison scenes of Magnasco and Goya, as well as the famous Carceri etchings by Piranesi. Robert spent a little over a decade in Italy, and during that time completed a drawing expedition to the southern city in 1760 with the Abbé de Saint-Non, whom he met in Rome. Robert, a prolific artist, would return to his sketches of Italy throughout his career for inspiration in his paintings, though it is likely that the present work (as it was painted while he was imprisoned) came from the artist's memory.