Hubert Robert

Anne Gabrielle, the artist’s widow (d. 1821),

thence by inheritance to her niece;

Mr. G.W. Riggs, by circa 1860,

thence by descent to his heirs;

'M^elle de L.',

sale, Paris, Galerie Charpentier, 22 June 1933, lot 31;

French private collection, later moved to the USA;

with Didier Aaron, Paris, London, New York, 1999,

where acquired by Diane A. Nixon

New York, The Morgan Library & Museum; Washington, D.C., National Gallery of Art, Private Treasures: Four Centuries of European Master Drawings, 2007, no. 58 (entry by Margaret Morgan Grasselli);

Northampton, Massachusetts, Smith College Museum of Art; Ithaca, New York, Herbert F. Johnson Museum of Art, Drawn to Excellence: Renaissance to Romantic Drawings from a Private Collection, 2012-2013, no. 66

N. Spinosa, in All'ombra del Vesuvio. Napoli nella veduta europea dal Quattrocento all'Ottocento, S. Cassani (ed.), exhib. cat., Naples 1990, p. 419;

C. Boulot, J.-P. Cuzin and P. Rosenberg, J.H. Fragonard e H. Robert a Roma, exhib. cat., Rome, Villa Medici, 1990, p. 96;

P. Lamers, Il viaggio nel Sud dell'Abbé de Saint-Non. Le Voyage pittoresque à Naples et en Sicile. La genesi, i disegni preparatori, le incisioni, Naples 1995, p. 357, no. 413a

Although he never competed for the Prix de Rome, Robert spent eleven years in the Eternal City from 1754 to 1765. He was sent to the French Academy by the Comte de Stainville (later the Duc de Choiseul) and seems to have established himself there quickly, earning a good report as well as commissions. Aside from studying classical antiquities and architecture, the students were encouraged to go out and draw in the countryside, an activity that was keenly promoted by Claude-Joseph Natoire (1700-1777), who was a firm believer in drawing ‘en plein air’ to aid artistic development. In 1759, having evidently impressed the right people, Robert received an appointment as a full pensionnaire from the Marquis de Marigny. As noted by Margaret Morgan Grasselli, he would subsequently receive instruction from such masters of architectural fantasies as Giovanni Battista Piranesi (1720-1778) and Gian Paolo Panini (1691-1765) and his continued proximity to many of the grand monuments of ancient and modern Italy provided him with a lifetime of material for his compositions.¹

In the spring of 1760, Robert accompanied the Abbé de Saint-Non (1727-1781) on a six-week trip to Naples and the surrounding area, where they studied the region's archaeological sites, including the newly excavated Herculaneum. The artist's expenses were met by the Abbé and, in exchange, Robert was expected to provide drawings recording the sojourn, which the Abbé could later engrave.

The present sheet, depicting the Temple of Athena at Paestum, to the south-east of Naples, was created by Robert during his travels with the Abbé. The Temple of Athena was one of three recently rediscovered Doric temples at Paestum, and therefore an appealing site for Robert and Saint-Non to explore and document. Robert seems to have made at least two versions of each of the views of the temples at Paestum, one of which was, presumably, always intended for his patron, Saint-Non. These drawings would serve as the subsequent models for the Abbé’s Voyage pittoresque ou description des royaumes de Naples et de Sicile (fig. 1), but as Morgan Grasselli notes “Robert apparently also made other versions of the compositions, with the temples presented in essentially the same way but with changes to the surrounding fantasy elements.”² The Nixon drawing is one such example of a drawing that Robert retained for himself, as it remained in his possession until his death in 1808, when it was inherited by his widow (see Provenance).

Other studies in red chalk by Robert from the same period include a view of the Temple of Diana and the ruined baths at Baia, near Naples,³ one of the Temple of Serapis at Pozzuoli in a private collection,⁴ and a view of Neapolitan ruins entitled by Robert the 'Scola di Virgilio' at the University Art Gallery, Yale.⁵ In addition to these drawings a counterproof of the Nixon drawing, previously owned by the architect Pierre-Adrien Paris (1745-1819) is today in the collection of the Bibliothèque Municipale, Besançon.⁶

^1.See Exhibited, New York and Washington 2007

^2.Ibid.

^3.Sale, New York, Sotheby’s, 26 January 2011, lot 639

^4.Cuzin, Rosenberg et al., op. cit., p. 99, cat. no. 47

^5.V. Carlson, Hubert Robert, Drawings and Watercolors, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, 1978, pp. 36-37, no. 5

^6.Lamers, op. cit., p. 356, fig. 413b