Description:
landscape; architecture; people; outdoor; pyramid
Label Text:
Dubbed “Robert de Ruines” (Robert of the Ruins), Hubert Robert enjoyed great success as a painter of classical ruins and fantasy architectural subjects. The excavations of the ancient Roman cities of Pompeii and Herculaneum in the eighteenth century spurred an interest in antiquity among artists, including Robert. Traveling to Italy in the entourage of the French ambassador, Robert stayed for eleven years, most of that time in Rome.
The central pyramid in this painting appears to be as large as the pyramids at Giza in Egypt, but it is actually based on the relatively small pyramid of the Roman magistrate Caius Cestius (first century bce) outside Rome. With the procession of tiny figures at its base and clouds forming under its unseen peak, the pyramid appears gargantuan in scale, as if it were a mountain with its own climate and weather system.
Link to share this object record:
https://museums.fivecolleges.edu/detail.php?t=objects&type=ext&id_number=SC+1950.15 |
