The Interior of the Temple of Diana at Nimes (1783)

Hubert Robert, The Interior of the Temple of Diana at Nimes, 1783, oil on canvas (Museo Thyssen-Bornemisza)

The Interior of the Temple of Diana at Nimes, painted in 1783, is another example of Robert’s capricci. Reflecting the resurgence of interest in classical antiquity in French society, closely linked to Grand Tour, Robert highlights the precise detail and monumentality of the Temple of Diana. At the right corner of the painting is a small group of women in classical attire surrounding broken tablatures and columns. A painter sits on a broken column with his sketchbook as the crumbling walls and crevices of the temple are overgrown with shrubbery around him. At the top left corner, two men stand on the ceiling of the temple. Humans are reduced to miniature sizes while highlighting the enormous stone walls of the temple. Though the temple is abandoned as a functioning institution and architecture has been reduced to rubble, Robert inserts small elements of society into the painting, reminding viewers of the previous glory and sentimentality of such a location. Rather than depicting the Temple itself – overgrown and architecturally stable after so many years - Robert reimagines an ancient space crawling with life. This painting is a prime example of the way Robert was successful as a ruins painter; the artist possessed an ability to add a sense of vitality to an otherwise barren location.

KC