Hubert Robert Giclée Fine Art Prints

From 1754 to 1765 Hubert Robert (1733-1808) was a boarder at the French Academy in Rome and explored Italy with two friends, Jean-Honoré Fragonard and the Jean-Claude Richard de Saint-Non. His fascination with Ancient Rome filled his drawings and paintings with monuments, imaginary vistas where genre scenes, ancient ruins and vegetation mingled, earning him the nickname 'Robert with the Ruins'. In 1778, Louis XVI named him painter of the royal gardens and commissioned him to redesign the gardens of Versailles and Rambouillet, as well as to rebuild the Baths of Apollo at Versailles.

For thirty years he painted numerous views of Paris. In 1787, he was commissioned to paint four decorative panels depicting ancient monuments in Provence for the royal apartments at Fontainebleau. Called the Most Important Monuments of France, these astonishing works form a unique ensemble. The majestic ruins of the "Le Pont du Gard", the Maison Carrée and the Temple of Diana at Nîmes, also the Arc de Triomphe at Orange, are animated by picturesque minor characters and bathed in light imbued with poetry. In 1784 Robert became curator of the Sovereign's collection of paintings and produced a series of designs for the Grand Gallery of the Louvre that would never be realised. He was arrested in 1793, released in 1794, and in 1795 was appointed a member of the Commission for the Musée, the future Louvre Museum, recently established. He would remain in this post until 1802.