Slacker Art

This is “The Fountains”, painted by Hubert Robert in 1787-1788.

In person, these are monumental paintings that immerse you. The painter was nicknamed “Robert of the Ruins” because of his love for ghostly urban decay. In addition to ruins of antiquity, he also loved scenes of burning buildings and church demolition. Happily, there are as yet no known paintings by him of puppies abandoned in the rain. Nevertheless, he was a big hit in France and spent most of his life in the elite echelons of society, including spending 24 of the last 30 years of his life actually living in the Louvre. While there, he even made a painting imagining what the Louvre would look like in ruins. Amazed that they trusted him with the keys.

Many say the people in his paintings were inconsequential to his art,. At best, they were only there to provide scale and animation. At worst, they reflected a technical limitation of his ability. To me, they are what drew me to his work. I imagined what it would be like to live so near a structure as to make it part of everyday life. Only one person is alone in this scene (the solo figure ascending the stairs). One woman is carrying a baby so they evidently felt safe there. In fact, I think it is a social hangout. Grab some water, ruminate on the incessant heart beat of time and entropy, overhear some good gossip.

Notice the guard rails on the left side. Worry not about the crumbling architecture or cracks in the immense arches, just don’t walk off the ledge. I also like the optimistic take on the water works. He obviously has not worked with pipes before or else he’d know that plumbing is the FIRST thing to go.