1760
graphite
paper
From the collection of National Gallery of Art
Dominant colour
Monumental Stairway is a 1760 graphite by Hubert Robert, a Romanticism work, held at National Gallery of Art.
This sketch shows a tall, narrow building with a long staircase leading up to it. The lines are loose and quick, like someone jotted it down fast. On the left, a person stands near the building, arms raised slightly, while a tree leans over the scene. The drawing feels unfinished, with light shading and no color—just graphite on paper. It looks like a study, maybe for a bigger project. If you like this sketchy style, check out technique: chiaroscuro.
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![Figures on a Monumental Interior Stairway [recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/6662e6de2172f65b/thumb.webp)
![Woman and Smaller Male Figure on Grand Stairway [recto]](https://pub-3a17a9933ad74fb28aa30fa758592f23.r2.dev/artworks/637e2104bb3633b6/thumb.webp)
