The Obelisk
Hubert Robert
1787
- Medium
- Oil on canvas
- Dimensions
- 255.6 × 223.5 cm (100 7/8 × 88 in.); Framed: 265.5 × 233.4 cm (104 1/2 × 91 7/8 in.)
- Genre
- oil on canvas
- Museum
- Art Institute of Chicago
Styles
Tags
oil paintings (visual works)paintingpaintChicago World's FairscanvasarchitecturearchitechtureCentury of ProgresscityscapesItalyoil on canvasfrenchoil paint (paint)painting (image making)painting techniquesdecorativeclassicalobelisksworld's fairslandscapesoil paintingeuropean paintingruinsNeoclassicism18th Centurydecoration
About
This painting is one of four depictions of architectural fantasies by Hubert Robert commissioned by the Marquis de Laborde for his elegant country estate at Méréville, south of Paris. It features a grandiose vaulted space that frames an obelisk, with a peristyle, or colonnade, closing off the distance. Through years of study in Italy, Robert absorbed the vocabulary of Classical architecture and sculpture into his own imaginative language. Here, the female figure in the central niche is based on a first-century sculpture that the artist would have seen during his stay in Rome.
