A Park and Figures
Decorative Designs, Decorative Landscapes and Still Life, The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, February 15-July 16, 2017.
Like other 18th century artists, landscape painter Hubert Robert studied in Rome, where he made many drawings of Italian Renaissance gardens. He often combined motifs from various architectural sites to create new, entirely imaginary scenes. This charming view of a park is likely such an invention. Stylized pine trees sway in the background while classical sculptures and broken columns allude to a distant past. Areas of paper have been left untouched, or “in reserve,” to evoke a bright, sunlit day.
With Richard Owen, Paris, by September 26, 1932-December 1, 1932 [1];
Purchased from Owen, through Harold Woodbury Parsons, by The Nelson-Atkins Museum of Art, Kansas City, MO, 1932.
NOTES:
[1] See letter from Harold Woodbury Parsons, art advisor to NAMA, to J. C. Nichols, NAMA Trustee, September 26, 1932.
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