Introducing Hubert Robert

Margaret Morgan Grasselli, curator and head, department of old master drawings, National Gallery of Art; and Yuriko Jackall, assistant curator, department of French paintings, National Gallery of Art. Celebrated for the fundamental role he played in promoting the architectural capriccio, Hubert Robert (1733-1808) combined the famous monuments of antiquity and modernity in unexpected ways to create strikingly new and imaginative city scenes and landscapes. Dubbed “Robert of the Ruins” by the great critic and encyclopedist Denis Diderot, Robert was regarded during his era as one of France’s most prominent artists. To celebrate the exhibition opening of Hubert Robert, coorganized by the National Gallery of Art and the Musée du Louvre, Margaret Morgan Grasselli and Yuriko Jackall present an introductory lecture on June 26, 2016. Although Robert’s reputation has endured, this monographic exhibition, on view through October 2, 2016, is the first to encompass his entire career and to survey his achievements as both a painter and a draftsman.