The Bathing Pool, Hubert Robert (c. 1777–79) | Mini Series

The Bathing Pool, Hubert Robert (1777–79)
6x6 Mini Series

Hubert Robert’s The Bathing Pool marries fantasy and history, turning an imagined Italianate landscape into a stage for leisure, sensuality, and the pleasures of water. Commissioned for the comte d’Artois—brother of Louis XVI—as part of an extravagant bathing pavilion built on a bet with Marie Antoinette, the painting was one of six monumental works installed in the luxurious retreat.

Drawing on his eleven years in Italy, Robert incorporates fragments of classical architecture, statuary, and lush scenery, but with a freedom that favors atmosphere over accuracy. Arcadian figures wander among ruins, suggesting an idyllic escape where past grandeur and present indulgence mingle. Known as “Robert of the Ruins,” the artist excelled at conjuring such dreamscapes, where the ancient world is reimagined as both backdrop and participant in the rituals of modern pleasure.

The Bathing Pool stands as both decoration and allegory—at once a celebration of aristocratic luxury and a reminder of the imaginative liberties taken by 18th-century artists in their dialogue with antiquity.

Cotton and polyester canvas on Radiata pine wood frame sourced from renewable forests. Includes back mounting.