The Fountains

1787–88

In his paintings of ruins, Robert embodied French philosopher Denis Diderot's notion that "Everything vanishes, everything dies, only time endures." This work, one of four canvases commissioned for a wealthy financier’s château (all now in the Art Institute's collection), exploits Robert’s typical vocabulary of fictive niches, arches, coffered vaults, colonnades, majestic stairwells, and Roman statuary to create a fantasy of expansive space.

Public domain · CC0
Free to download and reuse. Image courtesy of Art Institute of Chicago.

Artist

Hubert Robert (French, 1733-1808)

Date

1787–88

Medium

Oil on canvas

Dimensions

255.3 × 221.2 cm (100 1/2 × 88 1/8 in.); Framed: 265.5 × 233.4 cm (104 1/2 × 91 7/8 in.)

Origin

France

Collection

Art Institute of Chicago

Credit

Gift of William G. Hibbard