JPEG images are suitable for most presentation uses. TIFF images are suitable for publication purposes. When using images, please reproduce caption and credit information. For details or further information, click here.
A high resolution image is not available for this work.
Hubert Robert
French, 1733–1808
Laundress and Child
1761
Robert lived in Rome for eleven years, painting ancient ruins that often served as backdrops to scenes of everyday life. The fountain in this sketch was inspired by Roman examples—the artist even inscribed it with an Italian version of his name and location: “H Roberti Rom[a]”—but the scene is imaginary. The boy’s behaviour adds a humorous note.
Medium
oil on canvas
Dimensions
13 13/16 x 12 7/16 in. (35.1 x 31.6 cm)
Frame: 23 x 21 1/2 x 4 1/2 in. (58.4 x 54.6 x 11.4 cm)
Object Number
1955.843
Acquisition
Acquired by Sterling and Francine Clark before 1955
Status
On View
Image Caption
Hubert Robert, Laundress and Child, 1761, oil on canvas. Clark Art Institute, 1955.843
Select Bibliography
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Exhibit Four & Exhibit Seven. Exhibition catalogue. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1958.
Wildenstein & Co., New York.. Romance and Reality: Aspects of Landscape Painting. Oct. 18-Nov. 22, 1978.
High Museum of Art, Atlanta.. The Rococo Age: French Masterpieces of the 18th Century. Oct. 5-Dec. 31, 1983. Cat. by Eric M. Zafran.
Wildenstein & Co., New York.. Hubert Robert. Nov. 15-Dec. 16, 1988.. 1988..
Rand, Richard. Intimate Encounters: Love and Domesticity in 18th-Century France. Exhibition catalogue. Hanover, NH: Hood Museum of Art, Dartmouth College; Princeton, NJ: Princeton University Press, 1997.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1970.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling & Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1972.
Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1984.
Kern, Steven, ed. List of Paintings in the Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute. Williamstown, MA: Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1992.
Colin Bailey.. Jean-Baptiste Greuze: The Laundress.. Los Angeles: The J. Paul Getty Museum.. 2000..
Bailey, Colin B., Philip Conisbee, and Thomas W. Gaetgens. The Age of Watteau, Chardin, and Fragonard: Masterpieces of French Genre Painting. Exhibition catalogue. New Haven: Yale University Press in association with the National Gallery of Canada, Ottawa, 2003.
Larkin, Susan G. American Impressionism: The Beauty of Work. Exhibition catalogue. Greenwich, CT: Bruce Museum of Arts and Science, 2005.
Provenance
Adrien Fauchier-Magnan, Neuilly-sur-Seine (his sale, Sotheby’s, London, 4 December 1935, no. 90, sold to M. Knoedler & Co., probably as agent for Clark);[1] Robert Sterling Clark (1935-1955); Sterling and Francine Clark Art Institute, 1955.
[1] The painting was sold to Knoedler at the Fauchier-Magnan sale; however it did not enter Knoedler stock and is not listed in the sale book. The associated bill of sale in the CAI curatorial file is from Sotheby’s to Knoedler, with no separate bill from Knoedler to Clark.
