The Old Temple
Hubert Robert·1787/88
Historical Context
Hubert Robert's The Old Temple (1787–88) at the Art Institute is a companion to The Fountains in the Hôtel de Salm decorative series, depicting an overgrown ancient temple through which figures move and rest. Robert spent eleven years in Rome (1754–65) studying ancient ruins under the mentorship of Piranesi, whose visionary approach to ancient architecture he absorbed and transformed into a more decorative and commercially appealing register for French aristocratic taste. The ancient temple — neither specifically identified nor precisely accurate — served as a vehicle for meditation on the relationship between human achievement and natural time, the ruins overgrown with vegetation that simultaneously destroys and beautifies the architectural fragments.
Technical Analysis
The classical temple is rendered with convincing architectural detail within a atmospheric landscape setting. Robert's warm palette and skilled handling of filtered light through columns create a poetic vision of antiquity.
Provenance
Commissioned with its pendants (1900.383, 1900.384, 1900.385) by Jean Joseph, marquis de Laborde (died 1794), in 1787 for the Château de Méréville (near Etampes); the château was sold by Mme de Laborde, 1819 [see Simone de Lassus, “Quelques Détails inédits sur Méréville,” Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire de l’art français, année 1976 (1978), p. 286 n. 1]; the château was owned successively by: M. Ters and Mme d’Espagnat (sold 1824); comte de Saint-Roman (sold 1866); duc de Sessa (sold 1868); M. and Mme Beleys (sold 1869); la Société Cail (sold 1874); M. Heddle (sold 1889); Adam Natanson (sold 1890); M. Hériot (sold 1896); Prudent Carpentier (sold 1897, at which time the contents of the house were dispersed and the paintings probably sold) [See Simone de Lassus 1978, cited above; a letter from Bernard Binvel to Susan Wise dated May 5, 1987 states, perhaps erroneously, that Hériot sold the paintings in July of 1896]. M. L. François; sold Galerie George Petit, Paris, June 13, 1900, no. 2, to Durand-Ruel, acting on behalf of the Art Institute, with funds provided by Adolphus C. Bartlett, 1900.
