The Ponte Salario

c. 1775

Hubert Robert

Artist, French, 1733 - 1808

A rustic, arched, stone bridge spanning a shallow river nearly fills this horizontal landscape. From low to the ground, we look up into and through a large arch, which occupies the lower half of the picture and frames a view that opens to a wide expanse of calm, pale blue water, wooded green riverbanks, and a misty, distant view of a village and a mountain. The horizon line comes a quarter of the way up the painting, and a smoke-colored cloud formation curves like a backward C against the ice-blue sky above. The bridge structure is made from stacked, sandstone-colored stone blocks to form heavy piers. Vegetation grows on the crumbing bridge and gaps indicate other stones are missing. The bridge’s deck runs across the center of the painting, rising slightly from left to right. Atop it, occupying the top left quadrant of the painting, sits a square stone two-story tower that encloses an arched passage over the bridge’s roadway. Groups of people, small in scale, are positioned on and around the bridge. At the river level, on a platform around a bridge footing, four women do laundry. Two pull sheets from the water and two bend on their knees to wash the linens in the river. They wear long skirts of slate blue, cranberry red, and ochre yellow with pinafores and white blouses rolled up to the elbows, with their hair pinned up. A bearded man in brown trousers, white shirt, and brown hat appears to talk to them. Another woman standing nearby in a dark, slate-gray dress balances a large, dark brown ceramic ewer on her head and reaches to pick up another resting at her feet. Warm yellow light illuminates this scene and the underside of the bridge, and reflects on the river. On the bridge deck above, a brown steer is herded across the bridge by a person wearing a wide brown hat, while three people in red, slate-blue, and white clothing are about to pass through the tower passage on the left. Immediately above them, a woman in a white blouse and head scarf appears at a small balcony with what looks like a red dress draped over it and gestures with an extended arm toward a white cat crouched on a railing below. Another woman to our right, in a brown dress, white blouse, and brown hair, stands at the top of a flight of steps leading up the far side of the tower with her back toward us, and she gazes out at the view. On the water below, a small boat with several people is rowed across the river in the middle distance. In a shadowed area at the foot of the bridge, closer to us, a man stands wearing a pointed hat, blue jacket with buttons, and high boots with a sword tucked under his arm. Behind him, a woman in a dark green dress and kerchief sits on a stone step. Both look toward the scene under the bridge with the washerwomen.

Media Options

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Hubert Robert, known as "Robert of the Ruins," spent eleven years as a student in Rome from 1754 until 1765. During his sojourn he studied at the French Academy, but dedicated most of his energy to sketching the Eternal City and the Roman campagna. He reworked the ideas recorded in his sketchbooks, in drawings, and paintings throughout his career.

In The Old Bridge, Robert used an ancient monument as the basis for his modern composition. The Ponte Salario, which was built in the sixth century, is shown from below. The arch of the bridge, illuminated by a soft pink glow, separates foreground from background space. Through the bridge we see the Roman countryside in the distance. The crumbling pier on the far left has been converted into a contemporary barn.

Robert has combined the grandeur of ancient Rome with the anecdotal. For example, the young man on the right bank admires the washerwoman opposite, while the old woman on the pier entices her cat to return. Robert, by linking present and past under the warm light of the Italian sun, reminds us that bridges are emblems of the passage of time, thus evoking a nostalgia for the glory of ancient Rome.

On View

West Building Main Floor, Gallery 55

Artwork overview

  • Medium

    oil on canvas

  • Credit Line

    Samuel H. Kress Collection

  • Dimensions

    overall: 91.3 x 121 cm (35 15/16 x 47 5/8 in.)
    framed: 116.2 x 146.1 x 9.2 cm (45 3/4 x 57 1/2 x 3 5/8 in.)

  • Accession

    1952.5.50

More About this Artwork

Scholarly Article:  French Paintings of the Fifteenth through Eighteenth Centuries: The Ponte Salario, c. 1775

A young woman draws on an oval surface with white chalk while three winged, baby-like putti gather nearby, all on a bank of pale pink clouds in this horizontal painting. The woman and putti have pale, rosy skin, flushed cheeks, and hazel-brown eyes. To our left, the woman reclines with her upper body propped up on her far elbow, which rests on a steel-blue cushion as her legs stretch out to our right. Her light brown hair is braided and wrapped across the top of her head. She wears a loose, seafoam-green robe over a billowing ivory-white garment that has slipped off the shoulder closer to us. A round paint palette with brushes sticking out of its thumb hole and a roll of blue and white paper sit in the lower left corner, behind the woman. The woman and the objects are on a red cloth. In front of the woman is a rounded surface, perhaps a canvas, on which she draws. She holds up a gold-colored stylus with her right hand, closer to us, with a pointed piece of white chalk in one end and black chalk in the other. The canvas is taller than her head, so the child-like putto she draws on it is life-sized. The three nude putti on the far side of the canvas have copper or golden-blond, curly hair, flushed, rounded cheeks, short wings in white or peacock blue, pudgy torsos, and dimpled limbs. One putto, presumably the one the woman draws, sits back on the bank of clouds with a carnation-pink sash across his chest. He pulls his chin back and looks at her from under his eyebrows. He holds a gold-colored torch with a pink flame in one hand, and the other hand rests near a cylindrical quiver of arrows. Another putto peeks around the side of the canvas, and the third stands and props the canvas up. That third putto holds up a wreath of laurel leaves up over the canvas, above the woman’s drawing hand. The bank of clouds is parchment-brown with muted pink and blue highlights against a vivid blue sky. The artist signed and dated the lower right, “F Boucher – 1765.”

Scholarly Series:  French Paintings of the Fifteenth through Eighteenth Centuries

Artwork history & notes

Provenance

Jean Frédéric Perregaux [1744-1808], Paris and Viry-Châtillon;[1] by inheritance to his daughter, the maréchale duchesse de Raguse [1779-1855, née Anne Marie Hortense Perregaux], Paris and Viry-Châtillon;[2] (her estate sale, Hôtel des Commissaires-Priseurs, Paris, 14-15 December 1857, no. 42); Madame Louis Stern, Paris, by 1911; (sale, Galerie George Petit, Paris, 22 April 1929, no. 19); (Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York); sold 23 December 1946 to the Samuel H. Kress Foundation, New York;[3] gift 1952 to NGA.
[1] According to the preface of the catalogue of his daughter's estate sale in 1857, the late 18th century French school paintings in the sale had been acquired by Perregaux from the artists themselves. A Swiss-born banker who had married a French woman and was the first regent of the Banque de France, the collector owned major works by Boilly, Greuze, Vernet, and Vigée Le Brun, among others. The NGA painting was included in the postmortem inventory of Perregaux's collection, drawn up on 25 February 1808 by the commissaire-priseur Jean Baptiste Théodore Sensier; it was one of several decorating the salon of Perregaux's townhouse at 9, rue du Mont Blanc and was valued at 120 francs: "Item, un autre [paysage] par Robert représentant un pont cadre de bois doré Prisé cent vingt frances, ci.....120" (Archives nationales de France, Paris: Étude X, liasse 882).
[2] She was the widow of one of Napoleon's marshals, Auguste Frédéric Louis Viesse de Marmont (1774-1852). Her father left her a considerable fortune, part ownership of his bank, and part of his art collection. The 17th century Dutch paintings in the collection were bequeathed to her brother, Alphonse Claude Charles Bernardin Perregaux (1785-1841).
For the lives of Perregaux and his daughter, see Paul de Pury, "Jean-Frédéric Perregaux," Musée Neuchâtelois n.s. 6 (1919): 7-12; Jean Lhomer, Le banquier Perregaux et sa fille, la duchesse de Raguse, Paris, 1926; Romuald Szramkiewicz, Les Régents et censeurs de la Banque de France nommés sous le Consultat et l'Empire, Geneva, 1974: 311-318; Geoffrey De Bellaigue, "Jean Frédéric Perregaux, the Englishman's Best Friend," Antologia di Belle Arti 29-30 (1986): 80-90.
[3] See The Kress Collection Digital Archive, https://kress.nga.gov/Detail/objects/2262.

Associated Names

Exhibition History

1931

  • Eighteenth-Century French Art, Fogg Art Museum, Cambridge, Massachusetts, 1931, no. 31.

1934

  • Exhibition of French Painting from the Fifteenth Century to the Present Day, The California Palace of the Legion of Honor, San Francisco, 1934, no. 53, repro.

1935

  • Paintings and Drawings by Hubert Robert, Wildenstein & Co., New York, 1935, no. 32.

1991

  • Lüdke, Dietmar. Hubert Robert 1733-1808: und die Brücken von Paris (Exh. cat. Staatliche Kunsthalle.) Karlsruhe, 1991: 94, under no. 51, repro.

2005

  • The Splendor of Ruins in French Landscape Painting 1630-1800, Allen Memorial Art Museum, Oberlin College, Ohio; The Museum of Fine Arts, Houston, 2005, no. 30, repro.

2016

  • Hubert Robert 1733-1808, Musée du Louvre, Paris, National Gallery of Art, Washington, 2016, no. 62, repro..

Bibliography

1857

  • Blanc, Charles. Le trésor de la curiosité. 2 vols. Paris, 1857–1858: 585.

1910

  • Nolhac, Pierre de. Hubert Robert. Paris, 1910: 127.

1911

  • Guiffrey, Jean. "La Collection de Mme Louis Stern." Les Arts (November 1911): 22, repro.

1922

  • Gillet, Louis. "Hubert Robert, peintre des ruines." L'Illustration (2 December 1922): unpaginated, color repro.

1929

  • "Les Ventes." Le Bulletin de l'Art Ancien et Moderne, no. 759 (June 1929): 257, 259, repro.

  • Le Gaulois Artistique (June 25, 1929): 344, repro.

1931

  • "The Art Market." Parnassus III, no. II (February 1931): repro. 27.

1934

  • "En dernière heure, d'Hubert Robert à Seurat." Le Bulletin de l'Art Ancien et Moderne, no. 802 (January 1934): repro. 24.

1935

  • "40 Paintings by Hubert-Robert in Loan Show." Art Digest (1 April 1935): 15, repro.

  • Morsell, Mary. "Notable Canvases By Hubert Robert At Wildenstein's." The Art News (23 March 1935): 1, 4, repro.

1948

  • Wildenstein and Company. French XVIII Century Paintings. New York, 1948: 4.

1951

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Kress Collection Acquired by the Samuel H. Kress Foundation 1945-1951. Introduction by John Walker, text by William E. Suida. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1951: 230, no. 103, repro.

1952

  • Frankfurter, Alfred M. "Interpreting Masterpieces: Twenty-four Paintings from the Kress Collection." Art News Annual 16 (1952): 118,127, repro. 121.

  • Walker, John. "Your National Gallery of Art After 10 Years." National Geographic Magazine 101 no. 1 (January 1952): 74, 81, repro.

1953

  • Isarlo, George, "Hubert Robert." Connaissance des Arts 21, no. 18 (15 August 1953): 33.

1956

  • Einstein, Lewis. "Looking at French Eighteenth-Century Pictures in Washington." Gazette des Beaux-Arts 6th ser., 47, no. 1048-1049 (May-June 1956): 236, fig. 21.

1959

  • Cooke, Hereward Lester. French Paintings of the 16th-18th Centuries in the National Gallery of Art. Washington, D.C., 1959 (Booklet Number Four in Ten Schools of Painting in the National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C.): 40, color repro.

  • Paintings and Sculpture from the Samuel H. Kress Collection. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1959: 371, repro.

1962

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. Treasures from the National Gallery of Art. New York, 1962: 114, color repro.

1963

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington, D.C. New York, 1963 (reprinted 1964 in French, German, and Spanish): 318, repro.

1965

  • Summary Catalogue of European Paintings and Sculpture. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1965: 115.

1966

  • Cairns, Huntington, and John Walker, eds. A Pageant of Painting from the National Gallery of Art. 2 vols. New York, 1966: 2:324, color repro.

1967

  • Burda, Hubert. Die Ruine in den Bildern Hubert Roberts. Munich, 1967: 45-46, fig. 32.

1968

  • National Gallery of Art. European Paintings and Sculpture, Illustrations. Washington, 1968: 102, repro.

1975

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Summary Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1975: 306, repro.

1977

  • Eisler, Colin. Paintings from the Samuel H. Kress Collection: European Schools Excluding Italian. Oxford, 1977: 338-339, fig. 305.

1979

  • Watson, Ross. The National Gallery of Art, Washington. New York, 1979: 88, pl. 76.

1984

  • Walker, John. National Gallery of Art, Washington. Rev. ed. New York, 1984: 341, no. 462, color repro.

1985

  • European Paintings: An Illustrated Catalogue. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1985: 353, repro.

1991

  • Hubert Robert 1733-1808: und die Brücken von Paris. Exh. cat. Staatliche Kunsthalle Karlsruhe, 1991-1992: 94, under no. 51, repro.

1992

  • National Gallery of Art, Washington. National Gallery of Art, Washington, 1992: 174, repro.

2005

  • Baillio, Joseph, et al. The Arts of France from François Ier to Napoléon Ier. A Centennial Celebration of Wildenstein's Presence in New York. Exh. cat. Wildenstein & Co., Inc., New York, 2005: 59, fig. 57, 73 (not in the exhibition).

2009

  • Conisbee, Philip, et al. French Paintings of the Fifteenth through the Eighteenth Century. The Collections of the National Gallery of Art Systematic Catalogue. Washington, D.C., 2009: no. 86, 404-409, color repro.

Inscriptions

On stretcher: label with blue border, typed, "H. ROBERT/ 'Le vieux pont'"; printed label, "JAMES BOURLET & SONS, Ltd./ Fine Art Packers, Frame Makers/ B 61268/ 17 & 18 NASSAU STREET/ MORTIMER STEET, E./ Phones: MUSEUM 1871 & 7588"; small label with red border, "N.Y. 289"; small label with red border, "C8905/ Wildenstein"; label with blue border, inscription crossed out; small label with blue print, "FOGG/ ART MUSEUM/ LOAN/ 114.1931"; written on stretcher, "1417" and "4126F".

Wikidata ID

Q19609471

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