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Les Soirées de Rome:  Le Buste, by Hubert Robert, 1764

Les Soirées de Rome: Le Buste

Hubert Robert

1764

From the collection of Cleveland Museum of Art

Dominant colour

Overview

Les Soirées de Rome: Le Buste is a 1764 by Hubert Robert, a Romanticism work, held at Cleveland Museum of Art.

Who painted this?
Hubert Robert
When & what style?
1764 · Romanticism
Where can I see it?
Cleveland Museum of Art

About this work

This etching shows a fancy bust on a pedestal with a dark background. The light hits the sculpture’s curls just right. Small figures stand below, looking tiny next to the stone. Robert made this from his own drawings of Rome. He added fictional people to real sights. It’s one print from a set he gave to a friend who loved art. Try looking up The Cleveland Museum of Art to see more.

The story of this work

Overview

Derived from his own pen-and-ink drawings, this suite of etchings features fictional characters situated near recognizable buildings and statues in Rome. On the title page, Robert dedicated the suite to Marguerite Le Compte, who visited Rome in 1764 in the company of the wealthy author and art enthusiast Claude Henri Watelet. Both Le Compte and Watelet were amateur etchers, and they socialized with a group that included artists and printmakers centered at the academies in Italy. Robert’s dedication was likely motivated by the hope of future patronage from Le Compte. She may be the generous…

Read the full account in the museum source.

About the artist

Portrait of Hubert Robert
Artist

Hubert Robert

Hubert Robert (French pronunciation: ; 22 May 1733 – 15 April 1808) was a French painter in the school of Romanticism, noted especially for his landscape paintings and capricci, or semi-fictitious picturesque depictions of ruins in Italy and of France.

See the richer artist page

More by Hubert Robert

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