The ruins of an antique building with an obelisk and figures

The present drawing relates to a sheet in the Staatliche Kunsthalle, Karlsruhe, where the lower part of the composition is repeated in the same technique (inv. 1976-64; see J. E. Borries, Die französischen Zeichnungen 1570-1930, exhib. cat., Karlsruhe, Staatliche Kunsthalle, 1983, no. 36, ill.). Both sheets are signed and dated 1759 on a fragment of a marble relief at right. Of similar date must be another drawing, with only slight differences in the figures and a few sculptural elements, at Christie’s, London, 2 July 1996, lot 255. The composition was also used by Robert in a picture at the Art Institute of Chicago (inv. 1900.38; see M. Grasselli and Y. Jackall, Hubert Robert, exhib. cat., Washington, National Gallery of Art, 2016, no. 77, ill.).