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Coliseum and the Lateran Obelisque

Hubert Robert (1733–1808)

French, Neoclassical
ca. 1785
223.52 cm x 113.03 cm (88 in. x 44 1/2 in.)
oil on canvas
HC.P.1922.03.(O)

Not on view


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Description
One of a set of four pendant paintings by the French Neoclassical painter, Hubert Robert, this canvas combines two otherwise unrelated Roman monuments, the Coliseum and the Lateran obelisk, seen in front of a craggy mountain rising to the right in an imaginary, romantic manner typical of the artist. The Coliseum or Flavian Amphitheatre is an ancient Roman elliptical amphitheatre located at the east side of the Roman Forum. It was built between 70 and 80 CE by the Flavian emperors, Vespasian and Titus. The so-called Lateran obelisk, which takes its name from its location in the piazza of the church of St. John Lateran in Rome, originally was erected in ancient Egypt at the Temple of Amen-Ra at Karnak. About 330 CE, the emperor Constantine had it removed for use in the new city of Constantinople, but he died before its arrival, and it was eventually relocated to Rome instead. In this painting, Robert also contrasts the grandeur of the Roman ruins with everyday, contemporary life: a dog and a cow drink from a basin beneath the obelisk while a man drinks from water scooped up in his hat.

Although the Blisses acquired this painting and its pendants in 1922, they had not decided where to install them until 1928 when the Parisian designer, Armand Albert Rateau, suggested that they be framed into hinged paneling (with bookcases behind) on the north and south sides of the living room at Dumbarton Oaks. Attracted to this idea, the Blisses commissioned Rateau to design and build in Paris suitable French Neoclassical-inspired “boiseries,”or wall-paneling, and this paneling, along with the paintings, was installed in 1931. When the paintings began to show signs of paint failure in the late 1940s, they were removed for conservation (see HC.P.1922.02). The hinged wall panels were removed to reveal the bookcases behind. The bookcases were removed and the paintings returned to their original locations during the restoration of 2006-07.

This painting and its pendants are typical of "grand tour" paintings made in the eighteenth century, for more on which see HC.P.1934.71. For a discussion of the deterioration of the Hubert Robert paintings, see HC.P.1922.02; for for a discussion of the artist, see HC.P.1922.04.

J. Carder


Bibliography
Dooley, William Germain. "Classical landscape." The Christian Science Monitor (September 9, 1972), 8, ill. P.22.3.


Acquisition History
Collection of Edmond Blanc, Marnes-la-Coquette, France, before 1920.

Collection of Jacques de Canson, Paris, before 4/26/1922.

Purchased from Jacques de Canson, Paris, through the Galerie Jamarin, Paris, and through the Ehrich Galleries, New York, New York, by Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, 4/26/1922.

Collection of Mildred and Robert Woods Bliss, Washington, D.C., 4/26/1922-11/29/1940.

Dumbarton Oaks Research Library and Collection, House Collection, Washington, D.C.


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