Hubert Robert

Home > People > Literature and the Arts > European Art, 1600 to the Present: Biographies

Robert, Hubert (b Paris, 22 May 1733; d Paris, 15 Apr. 1808). French landscape painter. From 1754 to 1765 he lived in Italy (mainly Rome), where he became a friend of Fragonard and made a large number of drawings that were a source for his pictures after his return to Paris. Like Fragonard, he had a lively touch and in their drawings they are sometimes so close in style that it is difficult to distinguish their hands. However, whereas Fragonard was primarily a figure painter, Robert became the chief pioneer and leading exponent of scenes involving ruined buildings (he was nicknamed Robert des Ruines). Some of his paintings are fairly accurate depictions of real architecture, but he also produced various types of imaginary ruinscapes, including pictures in which he showed contemporary buildings as they might look after falling into decay. His work was much in demand—part of the vogue for rather artificial, idealized landscape that was one aspect of Rococo taste. As well as delicacy and charm, however, his paintings have grandeur and he could work convincingly on a large scale; many of his pictures were intended for a specific decorative context in grandiose interiors. In 1784 Louis XVI appointed him keeper of his pictures and gave him responsibility for creating a museum at the Louvre. However, he fell foul of intrigue during the Revolution and was imprisoned in 1793–4, narrowly escaping execution (he owed his life to a mistake whereby another person of the same name was guillotined in his stead). After his release he returned to his successful career and is said to have died ‘brush in hand’.

Robert, Hubert (1733–1808). French landscape painter. From 1754 to 1765 he lived in Italy (mainly Rome), where he became a friend of Fragonard and made a large number of drawings that were a source for his pictures after his return to Paris. Like Fragonard, he had a lively touch and in their drawings they are sometimes so close in style that it is difficult to distinguish their hands. However, whereas Fragonard was primarily a figure painter, Robert became the chief pioneer and leading exponent of scenes involving ruined buildings (he was nicknamed ‘Robert des Ruines’). Some of his paintings are fairly accurate depictions of real architecture, but he also produced various types of imaginary ruinscapes, including pictures in which he showed contemporary buildings as they might look after falling into decay. His work was much in demand—part of the vogue for rather artificial, idealized landscape that was one aspect of Rococo taste. As well as delicacy and charm, however, his paintings have grandeur and he could work convincingly on a large scale; many of his pictures were intended for a specific decorative context in grandiose interiors. In 1784 Louis XVI appointed him keeper of his pictures and gave him responsibility for creating a museum at the Louvre. However, he fell foul of intrigue during the Revolution and was imprisoned in 1793–4, narrowly escaping execution (he owed his life to a mistake whereby another person of the same name was guillotined in his stead). After his release he returned to his successful career and is said to have died ‘brush in hand’.

Robert, Hubert (1733–1808). French land-scape-painter and designer of gardens, known as Robert des Ruines because he often used Antique ruins as central elements in his pictures. He sometimes incorporated Egyptian and Egyptianizing motifs in his paintings, and played a minor role in the Egyptian Revival. He worked on the important gardens at Ermenonville (1770s) for René-Louis, Marquis de Girardin (1735–1808), and contributed to the design of one of the most enduring images of the period: the Île des Peupliers (Isle of Poplars) and the tomb of J. -J. Rousseau (1712–78). From 1786 he worked on designs for the remarkable garden of allusions at Méréville for Jean-Joseph, Marquis de Laborde (1724–94), in succession to Bélanger. He was a key figure in the transformation of the landscaped garden into a Picturesque place of allusions where sentimental, mnemonic, and moral associations informed the design.

Bibliography

BSHAF (1968), 127–33;
J. Curl (ed.) (2001);
M&T (1991);
Nolhac (1910);
L'Œil, clxxx (Dec. 1969), 30–41, 83, 96;
Racine (ed.) (2001);
Jane Turner (1996)

Hubert Robert , 1733–1808, French painter and landscape architect. A follower of Piranesi and Pannini , Robert was known as a painter of idealized landscapes, fantastic ruins, and vistas of city plazas and parks. His decorations for the Château of Fontainebleau (1787) are now in the Louvre. Robert was one of the first curators of painting at the Louvre and a draftsman for the gardens at Versailles. Imprisoned during the French Revolution, he escaped death when another man of the same name went to the guillotine in his place. He later died in obscurity.

Bibliography: See study by N. L. Dubin (2010).