Hubert Robert

Comte d'Imécourt (1781-1872), Paris;
His estate sale, Paris, Hôtel Drouot, 5 May 1877, lots 2 and 3;
Grouet collection, Paris;
With Matthiesen, London by 1938;
Rome, private collection, by 1959;
With Edward Speelman, London.

Rome, Palazzo delle Esposizioni, Il Settecento a Roma, 19 March - 31 May 1959, nos. 550 and 551;
Lausanne, Fondation L'Hermitage, Le Goût de Diderot: Greuze, Chardin, Falconet, David..., 7 February - 1 June 2014. 

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 pair of works is in extremely good condition. The composition with the columns on the right is nicely lined. It is probably slightly dirty. The paint layer is very fresh and well textured. Not visible under ultraviolet light, but slightly visible to the naked eye, is a vertical restoration which extends from the bottom edge about 2 inches to the left of the figure beneath the seated statue into the sky to the right of the statue's head. This damage seems to be the only restoration. The work could certainly be cleaned, or it could be hung in its current condition. The other composition with ruins on the left does not appear to have any old restorations. There are a few tiny spots of retouching in the sky. It could also probably be lightly cleaned.
"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."

Hubert Robert was one of the pre-eminent French landscape painters of the 18th century, training for over a decade in Rome before establishing himself at the center of the Parisian art world upon his return to the city in 1765. He exhibited regularly at the Salons until 1797 and completed countless commissions for the nobility, aristocracy and foreign dignitaries throughout his career.  He was renowned for his imaginary landscapes featuring ancient ruins and beautiful gardens, often incorporating both known and fantastical architectural elements in his compositions.  

Robert continued to return to his drawings of Italian ruins for inspiration once he returned to France, eventually earning the sobriquet "Robert des Ruines."  A similar depiction of an ancient circular temple to that in the first of the present paintings, for example, also appears in a painting by the artist of 1784,¹ and a structure similar to the broken columns beneath a cornice on the right of the second painting is featured in a work by the artist which sold at Sotheby's London in 2012.²  The present pair was painted in 1780, the year Robert moved with his family into the Louvre, where he was granted a studio.  Though he was a prolific painter throughout his life, there are few known paintings by the artist from this year.

The pair will be included in the catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Hubert Robert, to be published by the Wildenstein Institute. 

1. Antique Capriccio with the Statue of Marcus Aurelius, oil on canvas, 161 by 117 cm, signed and dated 1784.  Musée du Louvre, Paris, on deposit at the Embassy of France, London (7636).  See M. M. Grasselli and Y. Jackall, Hubert Robert, Washington 2016, cat. no. 64, illus. p. 154. 
2. A landscape with shepherds and shepherdesses among ancient ruins, with the statue of Castor and Pollux and the Pantheon beyond, oil on canvas, 59 by 78 cm., sold London, Sotheby's, 5 December 2012, lot 76.