Hubert Robert

Vigée Le Brun painted Hubert Robert around 1788, depicting the celebrated painter of architectural ruins and Roman landscapes who was a close friend and a fellow artist within the same Ancien Régime social world that she documented through her portraits. Robert — known as 'Robert des Ruines' for his paintings of decaying classical architecture — is depicted with the directness and psychological intimacy of a friendship portrait, the formal conventions of the commissioned portrait relaxed by the warmth of personal knowledge. The work is now in the Louvre, where it remains one of the finest portraits of an artist by an artist in the French tradition.

Vigée Le Brun captures Robert's animated personality with lively brushwork and warm flesh tones. The informal composition and engaging expression create a portrait that conveys the sitter's famous sociability and creative energy.