Hubert Robert Paris 1733 - 1808

With Wildenstein & Co., New York;
Private Collection, New York.

New York, Poughkeepsie, Vassar College, Hubert Robert 1733-1808. Paintings and Drawings, 5 October - 11 November 1962, no. 4.

In July 1765 Robert returned to his native Paris from his travels in Italy and was received into the Académie the same year. Although it was primarily his fanciful and classical landscapes which established his reputation, Robert was also a faithful recorder of the topography of Paris. The Bièvre was a small river which ran into the larger river Seine on Paris' left bank. Although no longer visible today, in Robert's day it was used for a variety of local industries, including textile dyers, distilleries, breweries, tanners, flour mills, a soap factory and twelve laundries. The quarter surrounding it was one of the poorest in Paris and notorious for its slums.