The Bathing Pool (1777-1780) by Hubert Robert

This painting by Hubert Robert shows an imaginary view of a large temple in the middle of a forest with a large bathing pool in front of it. It's an ancient temple and we can see the cracks on the top and on the steps. Robert included a variety of people, representing both a modern and ancient world, leading to an interesting contrast. On top of the stairs some visitors dressed in modern 18th century clothes admire the large statue of Venus. In the foreground we can see some bathers, including two naked women playing in the shallow pool. Water flows into the pool from four fountains. On top of the fountain on the left is a statue of a seated Venus, and on the right a statue of Mercury fastening his winged sandals. As a young man, Robert had lived for 11 years in Rome, and he used the ancient ruins he had seen in Italy as inspiration for his paintings. This particular temple was inspired by the temple of Vesta in Tivoli and the temple of Jupiter Serapis near Naples. This painting was part of a series of six works Robert created for a chateau for the Comte d'Artois, the future King Charles X of France. It consists of three groups of pendant works, all in the Metropolitan Museum of Art. The fountain was shown next to the mouth of a cave, the swing was shown next to the dance, and wandering Mistros was a pendant to the bathing pool. Finally, the story of how these paintings came about is an interesting one. Charles Philippe, the youngest brother of King Louis XVI, made a wager of 100,000 French francs with his sister-in-law Marie Antoinette. He bet that he could build a new chateau while the French court was out of town. He hired 800 workers who worked day and night to complete the new chateau in only 63 days. And for the bathing room in his new chateau, he commissioned Robert to create six paintings, including this magnificent bathing pool. Thank you for listening.