HUBERT ROBERT (1733 - 1808)

 
 
 
 
A STUDY OF TWO MEN BY A FOUNTAIN
 
 
Red chalk with pen & ink on laid paper, partially made up u.m.
13.5 x 14.5 cm
 
 
PROVENANCE
With J.H.J. Mellaart, The Netherlands & London (by 1948);
Private collection, U.K.
 
 
 
 
 
 
 
The present work is one of a distinctive body of figure studies by Robert executed in both pen & ink and red chalk. Closely-comparable examples include Two boys seated on a wall, presently in the private collection of Tom Mendel (see fig. I); A woman filling a jar of water, sold at Christie’s in 2004 (fig. II); and others in the Palais de Beaux-Arts in Lille. [1]
 
 
 
These drawings will once have been in one of Robert's sketchbooks from his years in Rome (1760-1763), and at some stage these were separated from their original album. There were over fifty sketchbooks listed in the artist's studio sale in 1809, demonstrating his remarkable lifelong commitment to recording everyday scenes and details for use in his oil paintings.