Hubert Robert Paris 1733 - 1808

Marquis de Montesquiou, Paris;
Comtesse de Montesquiou- Fezensac, Paris:
Her sale, Paris, January 29-30-31, 1872, no. 9;
Camille Groult (1837-1908), Paris;
His sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, March 21,1952, lot 91, reproduced (for 7.000.000FF);
Comte de Fels, Paris;
Anonymous sale, Monaco, Sotheby's, October 26, 1981, lot 532 (with traces of signature);
With Segoura- Janet Gallery, New York, 1981-1982;
With Emmanuel Moatti, Paris, there purchased by the present collectors.

New-York, Segoura-Janet Gallery, From Watteau to David, A Century of French Art, April, 22- June, 25 1982.

P. de Nolhac, Hubert Robert, Goupil, Paris 1910, p. 152, reproduced p. 62.

Aristocratic taste in 18^th century France was characterized by a folie des jardins where copious amounts of money and time were spent on creating idyllic gardens and depicting them on canvas.  Gardens and canvases alike were commissioned by royalty, nobility and the burgeoning middle class.  The demand for these views was so great that if one could not have their own fanciful garden, then a painting of an imagined spot would have to suffice.

Hubert Robert fed this craving in two ways: he was not only Hubert Robert the painter but also Hubert Robert the gardener.  The artist had already gained a following for his views of Roman ruins and imaginary destroyed buildings, such as The Incendie de l’Opera au Palais Royal, en 1781 sold in these rooms on January 24, 2002.  It was his unique talent, however, for blending nature and architecture that earned him his first landscaping commission--redesigning the Bosquet des Bains d’Apollon at Versailles. Upon its successful completion Robert was named Dessinateur des Jardins du roi in 1778.  His creations in this official capacity include the gardens at the Petit Trianon, the English Garden at Rambouillet and the dairy of Marie Antoinette. On these projects he collaborated with architects, sculptors and even other “foreign” gardeners in order to create some of the most breathtaking gardens.  

Ut picture hortus (“let the garden be the image of a painting”) was very much a theme running through artistic circles in the 18^th century; gardening became an art in itself. The trend in landscaping developed in England and flourished in the 18^th century with landscape architects such as Charles Bridgeman who, through his free design, inspired the French to imitate and create their own version of the Jardin Anglais.

The gardens were in fact conceived in the same way artists imagined paintings.  The gardener or artist used various colors and objects to fill the space, be it acres of land or yards of canvas.  He was concerned with balance, texture, color, and light versus shade.  These creations were meant as a retreat from the burdens of city life, whether an afternoon stroll among the carefully manicured allées of a garden or a fleeting glimpse at a carefully thought out painting.

Robert’s gardens, both real and on canvas were comprised of at least one (and often more) of the following elements: streams, arches, waterfalls, fountains, antique temples and secluded grottos.  The gardens and fountains depicted on his canvases were often unidentifiable; they were usually mementos or pastiches of various different gardens, parks and ruins.  Robert was able to effortlessly assemble these different elements together in such a natural manner that the viewer was unaware that the scene depicted is actually imagined and not real.

The ornaments used by Robert in his paintings were not merely decorative; they were a way in which to translate and express his innate talent. By using these elements Robert was able to not only create a beautiful and idyllic scene, but also, to convey a sense of atmosphere and emotion. The fountain, for example, with its rushing jets of water thrusting upwards into the heavens, was used as a means to create a dramatic vertical axis.  And the mist and steam dispersed from the jets infuse the composition with a soft and shimmering light creating a somewhat romantic setting.

In this romantic and beautiful composition, the focal point is the fountain that spouts water and mist on groups of people gathered around its iron fence.  From the fountain the viewer’s eye is taken up and around to a smaller fountain decorated with a statue of Venus and lastly our eye is led to the couples hidden among the mist and shrubs. The entire composition is suffused with an ethereal lightness and evokes a wonderfully serene and romantic atmosphere.

However, Robert is not just depicting a charming terraced garden beneath a sprawling villa.  There is an undercurrent of something more erotic.  The viewer is in fact a voyeur spying on the private lives of others.  The statue of Venus crouched on top of the smaller fountain in the foreground illustrates this idea even more.  The goddess is coyly hiding herself from the stranger’s view.  This clearly recalls Ovid’s story of Diana and Actaeon.

Note on the Provenance:

Our painting was owned by the great French collector Camille Groult (see Provenance below).  Born to a flour-milling family, Groult had the means, desire and eye to collect a large group of extraordinary 18^th century French paintings, drawings and pastels.  His collection included works by some of the most sought after French artists of his time: Boucher, Fragonard, Quentin de La Tour, Watteau and Robert. Then around 1890 his collecting taste changed and he turned towards English painting.  Yet, once again his exquisite taste and keen eye led him to English artists such as Turner, Reynolds and Romney.