HUBERT

See also:

• ROBERT
• ROBERT (1275—1343)
• HUBERT ROBERT (1753-1808)
• ROBERT, LOUIS LEOPOLD (1794-1835)

ROBERT (1753-1808)  , French artist, born at Paris in 1753, deserves to be remembered not so much for his skill as a painter as for the liveliness and point with which he treated the subjects he painted . The contrast between the ruins of ancient Rome and the life of his time excited his keenest interest; and, although he had started for Italy on his own responsibility, the credit he there acquired procured him the protection of the minister Marigny and an official allowance . His incessant activity as an artist, his daring character, his many adventures, attracted general sympathy and admiration . In the fourth canto of his L'Imagination Delille celebrated Robert's miraculous escape when lost in the catacombs; later in life, when imprisoned during the Terror and marked for the guillotine, by a fatal accident another died in his place and Robert lived . The quantity of his work is immense; the Louvre alone contains nine paintings by his hand and specimens are frequently to be met with in provincial museums and private collections . Robert's work has more or less of that scenic character which justified his selection by Voltaire to paint the decorations of his theatre at Ferney . Robert died of apoplexy on the 15th of April 18o8 . His work was much engraved by the abbe Le Non, with whom he had visited Naples in the company of Fragonard during his early days; in Italy his work has also been frequently reproduced by Chatelain, Lienard, Le Veau, and others . See C . Blanc, Hist. des peintres; Villot, Notice des tableaux du Louvre; Julius Meyer, Gesch. mod. fr . Malerei .