HUBERT ROBERT (PARIS 1733-1808)

Lot 29
11.06.2025 00:00UTC +01:00
Classic
AuctioneerCHRISTIE'S
Event locationUnited Kingdom, London
Buyer Premiumsee on Website%
ID 1437182
Lot 29 | HUBERT ROBERT (PARIS 1733-1808)
Estimate value
€ 80 000 – 100 000
HUBERT ROBERT (PARIS 1733-1808)
Le Cerf-volant
porte une signature 'H Robert' (en bas, à droite)
huile sur toile
278 x 153 cm (108 ½ x 60 ¼ in.)
plié sur 15,5 cm le long du bord supérieur




Provenance

Duchesse de Trévise, née Marie Angèle Emma Le Coat de Kerveguen (1835-1916) ; sa vente après décès, hôtel Drouot, Paris, 7 mai 1917, (Mes Mauger & Baudoin), lot 36 (avec son pendant au lot 37, La Route de la terrasse) ;
Adujgé 25,100 francs (13,000 francs pour le pendant) mais la transaction n'aboutit pas.
Par héritage au neveu de la duchesse, le comte Emmanuel Le Coat de Kerveguen (1869-1956), probablement au château de Coupvray (propriété du troisième duc de Trévise depuis 1869) (selon la lettre d'étude de Sarah Catala datée du 4 janvier 2024) ;
Puis par descendance à sa fille, Thérèse de Brignac, née Le Coat de Kerveguen (1906-2003) ;
Puis par descendance à son fils, Guy de Brignac (1933-2006) ;
Puis par héritage à son épouse, née Sophie Lalou, Tarascon.



Literature

P. Sentenac, Hubert Robert, coll. Maîtres de l'art ancien, Paris, 1929, pp. 48-49, reproduit en noir et blanc pl. 53.



Further details

HUBERT ROBERT (1733-1808), THE KITE, OIL ON CANVAS, BEARS A SIGNATURE (LOWER RIGHT)

This spectacularly large composition by Hubert Robert (1733-1808) has been in the Le Coat de Kerveguen, then de Trévise, collection since the nineteenth century, though it is not known whether it was commissioned directly from the artist by one of the members of this important family from Finistère. Notable members of the family include, Denis Le Coat de Kerveguen (1776-1827), a French aristocrat who left France for Reunion in 1796, and his elder brother Gabriel (1771-1847), a brilliant navigator who captained the ‘Royal Louis’ during the Restoration.

The present painting was part of a larger decorative programme that included a pendant in the same format, also offered in the 1917 sale after the death of the Duchesse de Trévise (1835-1916) (La Route de la terrasse, private collection) and another painting sold in 2004 from another branch of the Kerveguen family (Sotheby's, London, 8 December 2004, lot 49). Each of these three paintings testifies to the graceful way in which Robert, at ease in these large formats, combined his memories of Roman, here in the form of a classical rotunda, with a taste for the picturesque, by enlivening his paintings with everyday scenes - in this case children busy dislodging their kite from the tree.

Both the size and the technique of this painting indicate that it is one of the works produced by the artist on his return from Rome. At the height of his fame, the artist's power was described by Diderot (1713-1784), who wrote in 1767 about a work now in the Hermitage: ‘Monsieur Robert, people often stand in awe at the entrance to your ruins; they either turn away in fear, or wander through them with pleasure’.

In a letter dated 4 January 2024, Sarah Catala, a specialist in the artist, states that this painting will be included in the catalogue raisonné currently being prepared.
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