European Art & Old Masters (1577) June 12, 2017 EDT, Main Floor Gallery Lot 68 Estimate: $50000 - $70000 (plus Buyer's Premium) HUBERT ROBERT (FRENCH 1733-1808) PAYSAGE AVEC UNE STATUE ÉQUESTRE Signed with initials 'H.R.' and dated '1780' on stone tablet at bottom center left, oil on canvas 22 x 35 in. (55.9 x 88.9cm) Provenance: Collection of Leon M. Lowenstein, Paris, France (1935). Galerie Jean Charpentier, Paris, sale of Collection of Leon M. Lowenstein, December 17, 1935, lot 76. Private Collection, Paris, France. Hôtel Drouot, Paris, sale of June 23, 24 and 25, 1921, lot 83. Palais Galliera, Paris, sale of March 31, 1966, lot 32. Palais Galliera, Paris, sale of March 28, 1968, lot 58. Property from the Daniel W. Dietrich II Foundation. LITERATURE: Galerie Jean Charpentier, In the Collection of Leon M. Lowenstein, exhibition catalogue, December 17, 1935, p. 32, no. 76 (illustrated). NOTE: Earning the nickname 'Robert des Ruines' ("Robert of Ruins"), Hubert Robert is considered amongst the most important painters of architectural ruins and capriccios (imaginary landscapes) in 18th century France. His paintings were particularly popular with French aristocracy, undoubtedly helped by his father Nicolas Robert being an upper-servant to the Marquis of Choiseul-Stainville. By the 1770s, Robert had received the appointment of Draftsman and Designer of the King's Gardens. He also designed gardens for the Marquis de Laborde and the Marquis de Girardin, and the philosopher Voltaire commissioned him to paint decorations for his theater at Ferney. Robert received a classical education at the Collège de Navarre in Paris, and later with the entourage of the Count of Stainville in Rome in 1754. Spending the next eleven years in Italy, he developed a fascination with ruins, as well as close ties with Italian artists Giovanni Battista Piranesi, Giovanni Paolo Panini, and Jean- Honoré Fragonard - each of whom would serve as a strong influence. Robert's keen interest in ruins paintings coincided with concurrent excavations at Herculaneum and Pompeii, and the subsequent strong European fascination with antiquity. Highly prolific and much beloved as a draftsman, printmaker, and designer of gardens and furnishings for the wealthy and for royalty, Robert was even awarded prestigious lodgings in the Louvre from 1778 until 1802. With his blending of factual accuracy with fantasy, Robert maintains his standing as one of the premier painters of his day..