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Temple of Vespasian and Titus and the Cascade at Tivoli

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.1922.04.(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 Cascades at Tivoli and the Temple of Vespasian and Titus, seen in an imaginary, romantic manner typical of the artist. In this painting, Robert also contrasts the grandeur of the Roman ruins with everyday, contemporary life: three figures stand at the base of the falls in a patch of sunlight. A young man sits on the podium of the temple looking at four figures in the right foreground who stand or sit casually among the scattered fallen column drums. The Temple of Vespasian and Titus is located at the western end of the Roman Forum. Begun by the emperor Titus in 79 CE, it was dedicated to his father, the deified emperor Vespasian, and eventually to the deified Titus himself. Titus’ brother, Domitian, completed and dedicated the temple in approximately 87 CE. Tivoli, in reality, is located far from Rome at the end of the Aniene valley where the Tibur river runs through a gorge and forms a series of cascades.

Hubert Robert was born in Paris in 1733. His father, Nicolas Robert, served as ecuyer (an upper servant) to the well-connected Marquis of Choiseul-Stainville, an association that proved useful throughout his son's life. Hubert Robert was given a classical education by the Jesuits at the prestigious Collège de Navarre (1745-1751). He was an able classical scholar with a thorough knowledge of ancient history and literature. Against his parents' objections, he first studied art with the sculptor Michel-Ange Slotz (1705-1764), from whom he learned perspective and drawing. In 1754, he traveled to Rome in the entourage of the newly appointed ambassador from France to Rome. Robert spent eleven years in Rome, an unusually long period for an artist without any official post at the French Academy. There, Robert began training with Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765), the leading painter of Rome and its ruins.

Although he was not a pensioner at the Academy (not needing the financial support this brought), he was given special permission to join the students at the French Academy. There he met the young Jean-Honoré Fragonard (1732-1806) and was introduced to the distinguished amateur, Jean-Claude Richard de Saint-Non (1727-1791), who commissioned drawings that he planned to use in his publications of views of Italian cities, antiquities, and works of art. Saint-Non took Robert to Naples in 1760 where they visited the excavations at Pompeii. Robert remained in Rome until 1765, returning to Paris where his career met with early success. His more or less imaginary representations of antique ruins and fantastic views of urban architecture earned him the nickname of "Robert des Ruines." He first exhibited at the Salon in 1767. In addition to his career as a painter, he became a landscape designer and by the 1770s was in great demand to construct gardens in the newly fashionable naturalistic manner. After a brief imprisonment during the French Revolution, he became one of the first curators at the Musée du Louvre. Robert died in Paris in 1808.

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 the use of this painting and its pendants at Dumbarton Oaks, see HC.P.1922.03.

J. Carder


Bibliography
Dooley, William Germain. "Classical landscape." The Christian Science Monitor (September 9, 1972), 8, ill. P.22.4.


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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