Object number1880.1

The Octavian Gate and Fish Market

Date1784

Artist Hubert Robert (French, 1733-1808)

CultureFrench

MediumOil on wood panel

DimensionsUnframed: 63 x 45 in. (160.02 x 114.3 cm)
Framed: 78 1/2 x 61 1/2 x 3 7/8 in. (199.39 x 156.21 x 9.84 cm)

Credit LineBequest of Henderson Green

On View

Not on view

Period18th c

Classification(s)

Painting

SignedSigned and dated (on ledge of second table from left): H. Robert 1784

BibliographyMundy, James, The Frances Lehman Loeb Art Center: Vassar College The History and Collection (New York: Prestel Publishing, 2007), p. 59, p. 58 repr. Jackall, Yuriko, and others, America Collects Eighteenth-Century French Paintings (Washington: National Gallery of Art, 2017), p. 253, repr. p. 286ProvenanceCollections: Henderson Green

Vassar Exhibitions

Selections from the Permanent Collection (1990)

Exhibition HistoryWashington, D.C, National Gallery of Art, "American Collects Eighteenth-Century French Painting," May 21 - August 20, 2017.
DescriptionThis remarkable and impressive example of the work of Hubert Robert, the eighteenth-century French painter of Italian views, was one of the first Euro- pean masters to enter the Vassar collection, in 1880, less than one hundred years after it was painted. Its arrival was a result of luck and a drowsy art market. It was bequeathed to Vassar by Henderson Green, who stipulated in his will that he wished his executors “to sell my large oil painting providing they can realize therefore the sum of one thousand dollars. If they shall within one year from my decease, be unable to sell said painting ... then in that event, I give and bequeath the said painting to Vassar Female College (23 July 1879).” In the Salon of 1785, Robert exhibited a painting of the Octavian Gate and fish market “5 pieds 6 pouces de haut,” which was acquired by the Marquis de Montesquiou. The painting in question was sold in 1788. The Louvre owns a version of this subject that presumably is the work referred to in the literature. The Vassar painting is likely a second version produced by Robert owing to the popularity of the first. Robert’s interest in the ancient sites in and around Rome was a product of his years of study in the workshop of Giovanni Paolo Panini. When he returned to France in 1765, he painted this subject matter often for an enthusiastic public. Robert later became an early curator of the Louvre under Louis XVI and keeper of the royal pictures. The Octavian Gate combines the grandeur of the imposing portal with its utility as a site for bustling quotidian commerce, evoking for the viewer the sights, sounds, and even smells of a city living comfortably with its history.

Terms

townscapes (representations)

Object information is a work in progress and may be updated as new research findings emerge. To help improve this record, please email loebcollections@vassar.edu