Hubert Robert

Framed. Laid down on 19th Century mount. The paper is slightly yellowed, with some light foxing, although the chalk is still strong and generally the condition is fine.
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Hubert Robert and his patron, the Abbé de Saint-Non, spent the spring of 1760 in Naples and the surrounding area, studying the region's archaeological sites, including the newly-excavated Herculaneum.  The artist's expenses were met by the Abbé and, in exchange, Robert was expected to provide drawings recording the sojourn, which the Abbé could later engrave.  

The present drawing, depicting the Temple of Diana at Baia, to the west of Naples, was one such sheet.  In the background to the right, Robert has added to the scene the ruined baths, or Terme, of Baia (which in reality are some distance away) to make the view more picturesque.  Other studies in red chalk by Robert from the same period include a view of Paestum, in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Rouen, one of the Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli in a private collection,¹ and a view of Neapolitan ruins entitled by Robert the 'Scola di Virgilio' at the University Art Gallery, Yale.²

1. J.-P. Cuzin, P. Rosenberg et al., J.H. Fragonard e H. Robert a Roma, exhib. cat., Rome, Villa Medici, 1990-91, pp. 95-96, 99, cat. nos. 44, 47
2. V. Carlson, Hubert Robert, Drawings and Watercolors, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1978, pp. 36-37,  no. 5