HUBERT ROBERT (PARIS 1733-1808)

Thanks to the autograph inscription on the drawing, this unusual view, dated 1759, can be identified as the interior courtyard in front of the Salpetriera in Rome, a warehouse used to store saltpetre, the black powder used for cannons, located near the Campo Vaccino. The temple depicted by Hubert Robert in the background is inspired by the Temple of Antoninus and Faustina. 1759 was the year Robert became a resident in the French Academy in Rome, having travelled in Italy in 1754.

A similar view of the Roman Salpetriera but in brown ink and grey wash, was sold at Christie’s Paris, 10 April 2013, lot 52. Robert also drew in red chalk an interior view of this building, without figures, with its large cauldrons, which is in the Musée des Beaux-Arts, Valenciennes (inv. D.46.2.92 ; J.-P. Cuzin and P. Rosenberg, op. cit., 1990, no. 25, ill.). Representations of the Salpetriera are rare. A gouache by Louis Durameau (1733-1796), unlike Robert, emphasises the darkness of the smoke-filled site with men at work (Musée du Louvre, inv. R.F. 5227; A. Leclair, Louis-Jacques Durameau (1733-1796), Paris, 2001, p. 229, no. D.46, ).