Hubert Robert

Comte de Castellane;
Vicomte Chabert de Brack;
E. Cuvier (officer of the Banque de France);
With J. Seligmann, Paris, by 1930;
Private collection;
With Wildenstein, New York;
Monsieur Maurice Segoura;
By whom sold, New York, Christie's, 17 October 2006, lot 50.

Paris, Galerie Heim–Gairac, L'eau dans la peinture ancienne, 21 May–20 June 1968, no. 34.

The following condition report is provided by Alex France who is an external specialist and not an employee of Sotheby's: Structural Condition The canvas is unlined and is securely attached to a keyed wooden stretcher. There is a sheet of perspex held between the stretcher and the original canvas. This is to provide additional support and an environmental barrier. There are two small multi-legged repairs in the lower right quadrant as viewed from the reverse. Paint Surface The paint surface has a relatively uneven varnish layer. There is an overall pattern of raised craquelure which appears stable. Inspection under ultra-violet light shows scattered retouchings, including a large area below the fountain in the lower right of the composition, several retouchings in the lower left quadrant including a large retouching below the seated figure on the wall, intermittent retouchings along the left and right edges and three areas of retouching below the centre of the upper edge. There are other small scattered retouchings. Summary The painting would therefore appear to be in reasonably good and stable condition and no work is required.
"This lot is offered for sale subject to Sotheby's Conditions of Business, which are available on request and printed in Sotheby's sale catalogues. The independent reports contained in this document are provided for prospective bidders' information only and without warranty by Sotheby's or the Seller."

Hubert Robert, the preeminent French painter of Classical monuments, depicts here the commanding bronze equestrian statue of Cosimo I de'Medici which was unveiled in the Piazza della Signoria in Florence in 1594.  As opposed to depicting the statue in it's contemporary setting, he paints it amidst a capriccio of Classical ruins and motifs gleaned from his eleven year stint in Rome where he was a student and then pensionnaire at the Académie de France from 1754-1765. A mixture of contemporary, Renaissance and Classical costume clad figures drift among the vestiges of Roman architecture, notably the famous Temple of Cestius, and collonaded Temple of Saturn.

This painting is to be included in the forthcoming catalogue raisonné of the paintings of Hubert Robert being prepared by The Wildenstein Institute. A date of 1780 has been suggested for this work, which was some years following Robert's departure from Rome and his return to Paris.  He arrived back in his native city armed with his many drawings of Roman ruins and Italian landscapes that would be a source for his paintings for the remaining years of his artistic career.