The Swing

Hubert Robert

1777–79 · Oil on canvas · European Paintings

Based on a bet with Queen Marie Antoinette, King Louis XVI’s brother, the comte d’Artois, had a pleasure pavilion built on the outskirts of Paris in a mere sixty-four days through the labor of more than eight hundred craftsmen. Robert’s six paintings of Italian landscapes were installed in an elaborate bathing room, prompting their overarching theme of water. Having spent eleven years in Italy, where he befriended Jean Honoré Fragonard and other French artists abroad, Robert knew ancient architecture and sculpture deeply. In this series, however, instead of antiquarian exactitude, he combined sources freely.

Artist

Hubert Robert

Date

1777–79

Medium

Oil on canvas

Department

European Paintings

Credit line

Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917