The Old Temple
Hubert Robert · 1787/88 · Art Institute of Chicago
Guide
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From the museum
The four large canvases by Hubert Robert in the Art Institute's collection were commissioned by wealthy financier Jean-Joseph, Marquis de Laborde, to decorate a salon in his château at Méréville, France. Installed on all sides of the room, they would have suggested that the walls had dissolved, revealing fantasies of Classical architecture animated by scenes of everyday life. Robert was much sought after as a painter of architectural ruins, a genre that appealed to the late 18th-century taste for the antique. He cultivated his knowledge of antiquity over more than a decade of travel and study in Italy.
The museum’s own description, in English. Licence: CC BY 4.0
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Details
- Maker
- Hubert Robert (French, 1733-1808)
- Date
- 1787/88
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 255 × 223.2 cm (100 3/8 × 87 7/8 in.); Framed: 265.5 × 233.4 cm (104 1/2 × 91 7/8 in.)
- Place of origin
- France
- Held by
- Art Institute of Chicago, Chicago · On view · Gallery 218
- Credit line
- Gift of Adolphus C. Bartlett
Image: Art Institute of Chicago, CC0
