Imaginary View of the Terrace at the Château of Marly (Vue prise de Marly vers Saint Germain-en-Laye), ca. 1780. Hubert Robert. Oil on canvas. Purchase: William Rockhill Nelson Trust.
Like his Italian predecessor Panini, Hubert Robert painted both capricci, or imaginary views with ruins, and topographical views such as this example. The Château de Marly–demolished during the French Revolution of 1789–was frequented by the courts of Louis XV (1715–1774) and XVI (1774–1793), and visited by Thomas Jefferson in 1786, when he was serving as the American minister to France. Here, fashionably dressed ladies stroll in the extensive gardens. To the right is a fountain decorated with the famous statue of Mercury by Jean-Baptiste Pigalle (1714–1785), which was never actually on the grounds of the Château.
