- 81
Hubert Robert
Description
- Hubert Robert
- the nest robbers
- Red chalk, with touches of brown ink on the letters;
inscribed on the stone to the left: SIC VOS/ NON VOBIS/ NIDIFICATIS/ AVES
Provenance
Exhibited
Leningrad, Hermitage, Hubert Robert et le paysage architectural dans la seconde moitié du XVIIIe siècle, 1983, no. 7;
Karlsruhe, Prinz Max Paleis, Von Gluck des Lebens. Französische Kunst des 18 jahrhunderts aus der Staatlichen Eremitage St-Petersburg, 1996, no. 26;
Valence, Musée des Beaux-Arts, Hubert Robert (1733-1808) et Saint-Pétersbourg, les commandes de la famille Impériale et des princes russes entre 1773 et 1802, 1999, no. 49
Literature
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.
NOTWITHSTANDING THIS REPORT OR ANY DISCUSSIONS CONCERNING CONDITION OF A LOT, ALL LOTS ARE OFFERED AND SOLD "AS IS" IN ACCORDANCE WITH THE CONDITIONS OF SALE PRINTED IN THE CATALOGUE.
Catalogue Note
This large and fresh drawing is characteristic of Robert's style and his use of rich red chalk to create an animated scene. The lines inscribed on the stone are attributed to Virgil and can be translated as: 'And so, birds, you don't make nests for yourselves.' A companion drawing, The Flight of Galatea, is similarly inscribed on a stone with lines from Virgil's Eclogues, Book III, verses 64-65.1
A pair of paintings of these subjects, but with somewhat different compositions, is in the Hermitage, St. Petersburg (see fig. 1).2 The paintings and the drawings can both be dated on stylistic grounds to the 1780s.
Robert, who was inspired by classical architecture and sculpture in his drawings and paintings, here makes use of Virgil's classical pastoral poetry to create very 18th-century pastoral compositions.
1. J. de Cayeux, Les Hubert Robert de la Collection Veyrene au Musée de Valence, Valence 1985, p. 298, no. 85
2. I.S. Nemilova, French Painting, Eighteenth Century, The Hermitage, Moscow and Florence 1986, p. 276, no. 201; p. 278, no. 202