Hubert RobertFrench, 1733–1808May one see it?
Paris, France
The owner is known; whether it is on view today is not.
1745–1751 · Education
Collège de Navarre
4 November 1754
Arrival in Rome
Under the patronage of the future Duc de Choiseul, appointed French ambassador in Rome, Robert set off for Italy and arrived in Rome on 4 November 1754, spending eleven years there.
1754–1765 · Workplace
Rome
1754–1765
Roman circle: Panini, Piranesi, Fragonard
In Rome Robert studied perspective under the veduta master Giovanni Paolo Panini, met Piranesi, and became friends with Jean-Honoré Fragonard and the Abbé de Saint-Non; with Fragonard he drew from nature in Rome and its environs and stayed for long periods at the Villa d'Este in Tivoli.
April 1760
Journey to Naples and Paestum
The Abbé de Saint-Non took Robert and Fragonard to Naples to visit the famous sites of Campania — the excavations of Pompeii and the Doric temples of Paestum, which long continued to inspire Robert after his return to France.
1767
Debut at the Paris Salon
Robert presented thirteen paintings and numerous drawings of ruined classical architecture at the Salon, winning critical acclaim; Diderot wrote: "The ideas that ruins awaken in me are grand." He continued to take part in the Salons regularly until 1798.