Hubert Robert

With Cailleux, Paris, from 1929 to 1935;
Private collection, Geneva;
Anonymous sale ("Property of a Collector in Geneva"), Monaco, Sotheby Parke Bernet, 26 October 1981, lot 553;
Anonymous sale, Paris, Ader Picard Tajan, 25 June 1991, lot 63, where acquired by the present collector.

Paris, Galerie Cailleux, Hubert Robert, 1929, no. 4;
Copenhagen, Charlottenborg Palace, L'Art Français au XVIIIe siècle, 25 August - 6 October 1935, no. 186 (lent by A M.P. Cailleux).

L'Art Français au XVIIIe siècle, exhibition catalogue, Copenhagen, Charlottenborg Palace, 25 August - 6 October 1935, cat. no. 186, reproduced.

The picture is lighter in tone and fresher than the catalogue illustration would suggest. The canvas has been lined and the paint surface appears to be in very good overall condition with no apparent damage or loss of paint visible to the naked eye. There is evidence of a thin very slightly yellowed varnish and an uneven craquelure in keeping with the paintings age. Examination under ultraviolet light confirms the presence of the varnish and reveals some scattered minor areas of cosmetic retouching. In the lefthand building there are some minor areas of retouching to the brickwork around the upper area of the corner and to the turret. There is also evidence of minor retouching around the figures by the balustrade and to two minor spots on the right of the doorway below and directly beneath it. There is also evidence of an old campaign of retouching on the left to a small area of old repaired damage in the upper half of the left hand door (diameter approx. 3 cm.), as well as old infilling to craquelure. Moving right, there are tiny flecks of very minor scattered retouching on the arch of the bridge and in the lower right hand corner. The sky appears to be in very good condition but for some very minor flecks of localised retouching to very minor paint losses caused by craquelure directly to the right of the turret. Overall the painting appears to be in very good overall condition. Offered in a decorative festooned gold painted carved wood frame in good overall condition.
"In response to your inquiry, we are pleased to provide you with a general report of the condition of the property described above. Since we are not professional conservators or restorers, we urge you to consult with a restorer or conservator of your choice who will be better able to provide a detailed, professional report. Prospective buyers should inspect each lot to satisfy themselves as to condition and must understand that any statement made by Sotheby's is merely a subjective, qualified opinion. Prospective buyers should also refer to any Important Notices regarding this sale, which are printed in the Sale Catalogue.
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Hubert Robert's remarkable success as a landscape painter stemmed in large measure from his ability to convincingly incorporate motifs taken from his travels in Italy into general compositions of great elegance and adaptability. The motif of the arched bridge used in this work, for example, was evidently a favourite of the artist's for he employed it in a number of ways; sometimes in Piranesi-esque architectural fantasies, or even idealised cityscapes¹ but most often as the principal feature in an idyllic italianate country setting as here. Another very similar work of this type is the beautiful La Passerelle fomerly in the famous collection of Ange-Laurent de la Live de Jully and later sold Monaco, Sotheby's, 16 June 1990, lot 276. In both paintings, as in other works in this style, Robert uses the bridge as a bold compositional device, dividing the picture in half, allowing a glowing distant vista to be glimpsed beneath the arch and for rustic figures beneath it to be bathed in contrasting pools of light and shadow. The fortified gateway with its French rounded tower and Gothic arch is likely to be purely imaginary. Another such bridge embellished with a similar structure, a late work of circa 1799, was sold, New York, Christie's, 27 January 2000, lot 69.

 

1. See, for example, the Old Bridge of 1760-61 in Yale University Art Gallery, or The swim of the 1780s formerly with Wildenstein, New York, both exhibited New York, Wildenstein, Hubert Robert. The pleasure of ruins, 1988, p. 34, figs. 26 and 27.