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Identification and Creation

Object Number
1978.35
People
Hubert Robert, French (Paris 1733 - 1808 Paris)
Title
Architectural Capriccio with the Laocoön
Other Titles
Former Title: Roman Ruins with the Laocoön
Former Title: Roman Ruins with Thermae in the Background
Classification
Drawings
Work Type
drawing
Date
18th-19th century
Culture
French
Persistent Link
https://hvrd.art/o/295265

Physical Descriptions

Medium
Black ink and gray wash with watercolor over traces of black chalk on off-white antique laid paper, framing lines in brown ink
Dimensions
33.2 x 48 cm (13 1/16 x 18 7/8 in.)
Inscriptions and Marks
  • Signed: in drawing, lower right, on base of Laocoön, gray ink: H. ROBERT DELINEABAT
  • inscription: in drawing, on wall, upper right, gray ink: IMMENSIS ORBIBUS AN / LAOCOONTA PETUNT ET PRIMUM / CORPORA NATORUM SERPENS A / IMPLICAT ET MISEROS [illegible] ORSU [illegible]
  • inscription: signed, in drawing, lower right, on base of Laocoön, black ink: H. ROBERT DELINEABAT
  • inscription: in drawing, lower left, on leftmost architectural fragment, black ink: P Q R / REMPVBLICAN [illegible]
  • inscription: in drawing, lower left, on architectural fragment nearest stairs, black ink: S / ON / INC / NO
  • watermark: AI [countermark; fragmentary]

Provenance

Recorded Ownership History
The artist’s estate; his estate sale, Paillet et Olivier, Paris, 5-12 April 1809, part of lot 246, sold; to Alexandre-Joseph Paillet, Paris; Therese Kuhn Straus, New York, gift; to Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Therese Kuhn Straus in memory of her husband, Herbert N. Straus, Harvard Class of 1903, inv. no. 1978.35.

Acquisition and Rights

Credit Line
Harvard Art Museums/Fogg Museum, Gift of Therese Kuhn Straus in memory of her husband, Herbert N. Straus, Harvard Class of 1903
Accession Year
1978
Object Number
1978.35
Division
European and American Art
Contact
am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu
Permissions

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Publication History

  • Lucy M. MacClintock and Barbara Matilsky, Summary of an Exhibition of the Mrs. Herbert N. Straus Collection, exh. cat., Fogg Art Museum (Cambridge, 1978), cat. no. 59, n.p.
  • Margaret Morgan Grasselli and Yuriko Jackall, ed., Hubert Robert, exh. cat., National Gallery of Art and Lund Humphries (Washington, 2016), cat. no. 95, pp. 252-53
  • Guillaume Faroult, ed., Hubert Robert, 1733-1808: un peintre visionnaire, exh. cat., Somogy Éditions d'Art and Musée du Louvre Éditions (Paris, 2016), cat. no. 63, pp. 63, 252-53
  • Alvin L. Clark, Jr. and Edouard Kopp, French Drawings from the Age of Claude, Poussin, Watteau, and Fragonard: Highlights from the Collection of the Harvard Art Museums, Harvard Art Museums (Cambridge, MA, 2022), cat. no. 96, repr., p. 17

Exhibition History

  • Exhibition of the Mrs. Herbert N. Straus Collection, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, 05/13/1978 - 06/17/1978
  • 32Q: 2220 18th-19th Century, Harvard Art Museums, Cambridge, 09/26/2022 - 01/09/2023
  • Hubert Robert, 1733-1808: un peintre visionnaire, Musée du Louvre, 75058 Paris Cedex 01, 03/08/2016 - 05/30/2016; National Gallery of Art, Washington, 06/26/2016 - 10/02/2016
  • Hubert Robert, National Gallery of Art, 06/26/2016 - 10/02/2016

Verification Level

This record has been reviewed by the curatorial staff but may be incomplete. Our records are frequently revised and enhanced. For more information please contact the Division of European and American Art at am_europeanamerican@harvard.edu