Figures in a Roman Arcade

Figures in a Roman Arcade

Hubert Robert

An item at Metropolitan Museum of Art

From early in his career in Italy, Hubert Robert created architectural capricci (views combining existing monuments in imaginary compositions), in the manner of the Italian masters Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) and Giovanni Paolo Panini (1691-1765). In this red chalk drawing, Hubert Robert lends a sense of observed reality to the representation of an invented place. The large scale of the structure and the axial perspective framing the view of another building both recall the palazzo dei conservatori in Rome, although the architectural vocabulary, in particular the groin vaults and the Doric order of the capitals are reminiscent of certain rooms in the Villa Albani. Both buildings housed important collections of ancient art, the former was open to the public, the latter was private. In 1762, Hubert Robert made several views of the both the palazzo dei conservatori and the Villa Albani, always choosing a central perspective (see exh. cat. Hubert Robert (1733-1808) un peintre visionnaire, Paris, 2016, no. 13-14). The Met’s drawing, made a year later, is distinguished by its quick and controlled handling, which allowed Robert to create a tonal range of red chalk in order to describe effects of light and shadow. To animate his urban spaces, Robert added figural groupings that draw from his sketchbooks. Certain figures, such as the mother and child in the foreground and the group of soldiers at right, were part of the composition from the outset and are drawn on untouched paper; others, presumably added at a later stage, are drawn over the lines of the architecture. The dress of the figures ranges from togas evoking the antique to more contemporary garb, ultimately creating a temporal ambiguity. By depicting an idealized architectural setting in an indeterminate time period, the artist focusses less on nostalgia than on everyday life. Sarah Catala (December 2016)

Drawings and Prints

An exhibit at Metropolitan Museum of Art

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The Department’s vast collection of works on paper comprises approximately 21,000 drawings, 1.2 million prints, and 12,000 illustrated books created in Europe and the Americas from about 1400 to the present day. Since its foundation in 1916, the Department has been committed to collecting a wide range of works on paper, which includes both pieces that are incredibly rare and lauded for their aesthetic appeal, as well as material that is more popular, functional, and ephemeral. The broad scope of the department’s collecting encourages questions of connoisseurship as well as those pertaining to function and context, and demonstrates the vital role that prints, drawings, and illustrated books have played throughout history.