GENERAL DESCRIPTION
Among the ruins recalling the Roman Colosseum, a monk prays at an unadorned makeshift altar. To the left, two village girls sneak into the sanctuary to steal flowers placed before a small picture of the Virgin Mary, while an older woman tries to discourage their mischievousness. The monk is so absorbed in his devotions that he neither sees nor hears the frivolity occurring behind him.
Hubert Robert painted many variations on this playful subject of the hermit and flower thieves. This is the artist’s final exploration of the theme, which had occupied him for over thirty years.
Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2012.
NOTES
former number according to education doc- T43007.33
Checked Piction
AFTER EDITING, SEND TMS INFO TO BMAC FOR ARCHIVING
This small painting is most likely a late rendition of a theme that preoccupied Robert since his years of study at the French Academy in Rome from 1754-65. In an enormous vaulted church, imagined by the artist as a towering antique structure, a monk is shown lost in prayer at a humble altar. Unbeknownst to him, two peasant girls are just about to abscond with a few flowers left as an offering to a small picture of the Madonna. An elderly woman tries to dissuade them from the mischief. This charming anecdotal theme is most likely an invention of the artist's, with no precise textual source. Robert treated the subject several times throughout his career, the earliest example of which is a larger, rectangular canvas now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu.
Dubbed "Robert of the Ruins" by admiring Salon critics, Hubert Robert established his reputation through this highly specialized subcategory of landscape painting. Basing his inventions on firsthand knowledge of the great architectural monuments of Rome, Robert devised endless variations on the theme of ruins, thereby catering to the 18th-century appetite for all things classical, whether imaginary or historically accurate. Robert's prolific output continued unabated throughout his long career, even when incarcerated during the revolutionary period for his royalist connections. King Louis XVI appointed Robert curator of the national museum that would eventually be known as the Louvre, a post he was allowed to resume one year after his release from prision in 1794.
Dorothy Kosinski
Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture and The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Curator of European Painting and Sculpture
1996
Signed and dated on stone tablet at lower right: H Robert pinxit anno 1790 and monogrammed: R
his small painting is most likely a late rendition of a theme that had preoccupied Robert since his years of study at the French Academy at Rome
from 1754-65. In an enormous, vaulted church, imagined by the artist as a towering, antique structure supported by rows of columns, a monk is shown lost in prayer at a humble altar. Meanwhile, two peasant girls are shown in the middle of absconding with a few of the flowers that have been placed there as an offering to a small picture of the Madonna. Another, older peasant woman tries to dissuade them from their mischievousness. While close in its piquancy to La Fontaine's irreverent and anti-clerical tales of monks and their illicit adventures, Robert's tableau has no precise textual counterpart. This anecdotal theme is most likely an improvisation on the part of the artist, just as the fantastic, architectural ruins he has chosen as the setting are purely a product ofthe artist's imagination.
Dubbed "Robert of the Ruins" by admiring Salon critics, Hubert Robert established his
reputation through this highly specialized sub-category of landscape painting. Basing his
invented, classicizing landscapes on a first-hand knowledge of the great architectural
monuments ofRome, Robert devised seemingly endless variations on the theme of ruins,
thereby catering to the mid 18th-century appetite for all things classical, whether imagined
or archaeologically accurate. While in Rome, Robert was influenced by the two great
Italian artists Giovanni Paolo Panini, with whom he studied, and Piranesi. Panini's
trompe-l'oeil architectural interiors, abundantly decorated with paintings of the most
famous ancient monuments in Rome, provided Robert with an important source for his
own pictures of classically inspired ruins, while Piranesi's looming, visionary views
inspired Robert's distortions of perspective and exaggerations of the classical vocabulary.
However, Robert's fluid brushwork, very similar to the virtuoso handling of his friend,
Jean-Honore Fragonard, lends his paintings a verve that is entirely French. Robert's
prolific output continued unabated throughout his long career, even when incarcerated
during the Revolution for his royalist connections. In 1778 Louis XVI appointed Robert designer of the King's gardens. He was also appointed curator of the proposed national museum (what would become the Musee du Louvre), a post he was allowed to resume one year after his release from prison in 1794.
Several, distinct paintings by Robert based on the theme of 'hermit-and-flower-thieves'
exist, the earliest of which is a larger, rectangular canvas now in the J. Paul Getty
Museum, Malibu. The Rosenberg Hermit is Robert's last identified treatment of the
theme. If there is a didactic message to this composition, it is charmingly obscured by the
sheer beauty of the paint handling and the playfulness of the scene.
Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 8-9.
ROBERT:
In a similar spirit, there’s a small painting titled Hermit in the Colosseum (fig. 8) by Hubert Robert, a painter working a generation later than Boucher. An exquisite, small picture based on Robert’s many years spent studying and working in Italy, it shows the imaginary interior of the Roman Colosseum in ruinous state. From the late eighteenth century until the 1930s, the Colosseum was inhabited by all sorts of people, including hermit monks. Robert depicted a hermit praying at an old makeshift altar, with a bunch of pretty girls stealing flowers behind him. The hermit is so busy, absorbed in his prayers, that he does not observe the theft. Robert offers up a humorous genre anecdote—really a superbly painted picture, lighthearted and not too serious. (20)
Philip Conisbee, "Michael L. Rosenberg's Eighteenth Century," 11-23, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
Confluence 2016:
In the ruins of an ancient Roman colosseum, a monk prays at a makeshift altar. Two village girls sneak into the sanctuary to steal flowers placed before a picture of the Virgin Mary, while an older woman tries to discourage their mischievousness. The monk is so absorbed in his prayers that he neither sees nor hears the frivolity occurring behind him.
This is Hubert Robert’s final version—out of many—of the hermit and flower thieves, which occupied him for over thirty years. Called “Robert of the Ruins” by admiring critics, he established his reputation on picturesque paintings of Roman ruins. Basing his inventions on firsthand knowledge of architectural monuments, he created endless variations on the theme of ruins, catering to the 18th-century taste for all things classical, whether imaginary or historically accurate.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Hubert Robert, French, 1733 - 1808
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
1790
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Lent by the Micheal L. Rosenberg Foundation
AUDIO ASSETS
Conisbee lecture, Rosenberg Lecture series- 13313535: UMO
VIDEO ASSETS
IMAGE ASSETS
WEB RESOURCES
- The J. Paul Getty Museum, Los Angeles~Learn more about the life and works of Hubert Robert.
ARCHIVAL RESOURCES
FUN FACTS
TEACHING IDEAS
RULES
Apply to objects where id equals 5325711
Category
rules_operator
AND
General Description
Among the ruins recalling the Roman Colosseum, a monk prays at an unadorned makeshift altar. To the left, two village girls sneak into the sanctuary to steal flowers placed before a small picture of the Virgin Mary, while an older woman tries to discourage their mischievousness. The monk is so absorbed in his devotions that he neither sees nor hears the frivolity occurring behind him.
Hubert Robert painted many variations on this playful subject of the hermit and flower thieves. This is the artist’s final exploration of the theme, which had occupied him for over thirty years.
Excerpt from
Heather MacDonald, DMA label copy, 2012.
Fun Facts
Archival Resources
Web Resources
Notes
former number according to education doc- T43007.33
Checked Piction
AFTER EDITING, SEND TMS INFO TO BMAC FOR ARCHIVING
This small painting is most likely a late rendition of a theme that preoccupied Robert since his years of study at the French Academy in Rome from 1754-65. In an enormous vaulted church, imagined by the artist as a towering antique structure, a monk is shown lost in prayer at a humble altar. Unbeknownst to him, two peasant girls are just about to abscond with a few flowers left as an offering to a small picture of the Madonna. An elderly woman tries to dissuade them from the mischief. This charming anecdotal theme is most likely an invention of the artist's, with no precise textual source. Robert treated the subject several times throughout his career, the earliest example of which is a larger, rectangular canvas now in the J. Paul Getty Museum, Malibu.
Dubbed "Robert of the Ruins" by admiring Salon critics, Hubert Robert established his reputation through this highly specialized subcategory of landscape painting. Basing his inventions on firsthand knowledge of the great architectural monuments of Rome, Robert devised endless variations on the theme of ruins, thereby catering to the 18th-century appetite for all things classical, whether imaginary or historically accurate. Robert's prolific output continued unabated throughout his long career, even when incarcerated during the revolutionary period for his royalist connections. King Louis XVI appointed Robert curator of the national museum that would eventually be known as the Louvre, a post he was allowed to resume one year after his release from prision in 1794.
Dorothy Kosinski
Senior Curator of Painting and Sculpture and The Barbara Thomas Lemmon Curator of European Painting and Sculpture
1996
Signed and dated on stone tablet at lower right: H Robert pinxit anno 1790 and monogrammed: R
his small painting is most likely a late rendition of a theme that had preoccupied Robert since his years of study at the French Academy at Rome
from 1754-65. In an enormous, vaulted church, imagined by the artist as a towering, antique structure supported by rows of columns, a monk is shown lost in prayer at a humble altar. Meanwhile, two peasant girls are shown in the middle of absconding with a few of the flowers that have been placed there as an offering to a small picture of the Madonna. Another, older peasant woman tries to dissuade them from their mischievousness. While close in its piquancy to La Fontaine's irreverent and anti-clerical tales of monks and their illicit adventures, Robert's tableau has no precise textual counterpart. This anecdotal theme is most likely an improvisation on the part of the artist, just as the fantastic, architectural ruins he has chosen as the setting are purely a product ofthe artist's imagination.
Dubbed "Robert of the Ruins" by admiring Salon critics, Hubert Robert established his
reputation through this highly specialized sub-category of landscape painting. Basing his
invented, classicizing landscapes on a first-hand knowledge of the great architectural
monuments ofRome, Robert devised seemingly endless variations on the theme of ruins,
thereby catering to the mid 18th-century appetite for all things classical, whether imagined
or archaeologically accurate. While in Rome, Robert was influenced by the two great
Italian artists Giovanni Paolo Panini, with whom he studied, and Piranesi. Panini's
trompe-l'oeil architectural interiors, abundantly decorated with paintings of the most
famous ancient monuments in Rome, provided Robert with an important source for his
own pictures of classically inspired ruins, while Piranesi's looming, visionary views
inspired Robert's distortions of perspective and exaggerations of the classical vocabulary.
However, Robert's fluid brushwork, very similar to the virtuoso handling of his friend,
Jean-Honore Fragonard, lends his paintings a verve that is entirely French. Robert's
prolific output continued unabated throughout his long career, even when incarcerated
during the Revolution for his royalist connections. In 1778 Louis XVI appointed Robert designer of the King's gardens. He was also appointed curator of the proposed national museum (what would become the Musee du Louvre), a post he was allowed to resume one year after his release from prison in 1794.
Several, distinct paintings by Robert based on the theme of 'hermit-and-flower-thieves'
exist, the earliest of which is a larger, rectangular canvas now in the J. Paul Getty
Museum, Malibu. The Rosenberg Hermit is Robert's last identified treatment of the
theme. If there is a didactic message to this composition, it is charmingly obscured by the
sheer beauty of the paint handling and the playfulness of the scene.
Eik Kahng, The Michael L. Rosenberg Collection (Dallas, TX: Dallas Museum of Art, n.d.), 8-9.
ROBERT:
In a similar spirit, there’s a small painting titled Hermit in the Colosseum (fig. 8) by Hubert Robert, a painter working a generation later than Boucher. An exquisite, small picture based on Robert’s many years spent studying and working in Italy, it shows the imaginary interior of the Roman Colosseum in ruinous state. From the late eighteenth century until the 1930s, the Colosseum was inhabited by all sorts of people, including hermit monks. Robert depicted a hermit praying at an old makeshift altar, with a bunch of pretty girls stealing flowers behind him. The hermit is so busy, absorbed in his prayers, that he does not observe the theft. Robert offers up a humorous genre anecdote—really a superbly painted picture, lighthearted and not too serious. (20)
Philip Conisbee, "Michael L. Rosenberg's Eighteenth Century," 11-23, in French Art of the Eigteenth Century: The Michael L. Rosenberg Lecture Series at the Dallas Museum of Art, Heather MacDonald ed. Dallas Museum of Art and the Michael L. Rosenberg Foundation, distributed by Yale University press, New Haven, CT, 2016.
Confluence 2016:
In the ruins of an ancient Roman colosseum, a monk prays at a makeshift altar. Two village girls sneak into the sanctuary to steal flowers placed before a picture of the Virgin Mary, while an older woman tries to discourage their mischievousness. The monk is so absorbed in his prayers that he neither sees nor hears the frivolity occurring behind him.
This is Hubert Robert’s final version—out of many—of the hermit and flower thieves, which occupied him for over thirty years. Called “Robert of the Ruins” by admiring critics, he established his reputation on picturesque paintings of Roman ruins. Basing his inventions on firsthand knowledge of architectural monuments, he created endless variations on the theme of ruins, catering to the 18th-century taste for all things classical, whether imaginary or historically accurate.
Catalogue essays
Artist/designers
Hubert Robert, French, 1733 - 1808
Cultures
Geography
Process/materials
Historical periods
1790
Individuals
Subject terms
RELATED OBJECTS
PROVENANCE
Lent by the Micheal L. Rosenberg Foundation
AUDIO ASSETS
Conisbee lecture, Rosenberg Lecture series- 13313535: UMO
VIDEO ASSETS
rules
Apply To
Objects
id
Equals
5325711
source file
object_notes_1_b-0135.xml.nores