Nicknamed Robert of the Ruins during his life, Hubert Robert was a popular academy painter in eighteenth-century France who was celebrated for his paintings of fictitious landscapes populated with real ruins. After training in Paris, Robert traveled to Rome in 1754 and spent the following decade enraptured with the architectural ruins there, especially the then-recently excavated Pompeii. Such sites became his paintings’ architectural focal points, though they were often situated in lush, imaginary landscapes. Reverential toward ancient Roman culture, he also included renderings of classical sculptures of mythological figures in his paintings. Upon returning to Paris, Robert worked for aristocrats and royals, painting accurate representations of France as well as adding landscape and furniture design to his oeuvre.