Description

The Landing Place is one of four works commissioned to decorate a salon in the château of Jean-Joseph, Marquis de Laborde, a successful ﬁnancier. This view is dominated by an immense colonnade, in front of which several people are shown departing in a pleasure boat while others linger at the water’s edge. As he constructed this fantasy, Hubert Robert included direct references to renowned antique monuments, combining them with elements of his own invention. The perspective and scale of Robert’s four painted architectural fantasies were coordinated with the proportions of the room to give the illusion of a vast, open space.

Provenance

Commissioned with its pendants (1900.382, 1900.383, 1900.385) by Jean Joseph, marquis de Laborde (died 1794), in 1787 for the Château de Méréville (near Etampes); the château was sold by Mme de Laborde, 1819 [see Simone de Lassus, “Quelques Détails inédits sur Méréville,” Bulletin de la Société de l’histoire de l’art français, année 1976 (1978), p. 286 n. 1]; the château was owned successively by: M. Ters and Mme d’Espagnat (sold 1824); comte de Saint-Roman (sold 1866); duc de Sessa (sold 1868); M. and Mme Beleys (sold 1869); la Société Cail (sold 1874); M. Heddle (sold 1889); Adam Natanson (sold 1890); M. Hériot (sold 1896); Prudent Carpentier (sold 1897, at which time the contents of the house were dispersed and the paintings probably sold) [See Simone de Lassus 1978, cited above; a letter from Bernard Binvel to Susan Wise dated May 5, 1987 states, perhaps erroneously, that Hériot sold the paintings in July of 1896]. M. L. François; sold Galerie George Petit, Paris, June 13, 1900, no. 1, to Durand-Ruel, acting on behalf of the Art Institute, with funds provided by Richard T. Crane, 1900.