The Nymphaeum of the Villa di Papa Giulio, Rome ca. 1761 Hubert Robert French Over the course of his eleven year stay in Rome, from 1754 to 1765, Hubert Robert made several drawings of the Villa Giulia built in 1551-1553, following the designs of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1507-1573). To enhance the beauty of the place, Pope Julius III commissioned the sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511-1592) to design the Nymphaeum and garden structures, which are renowned today as examples of Mannerist architecture in Rome. The first known view of the villa by Robert is a red chalk drawing dated 1758: the
The Nymphaeum of the Villa di Papa Giulio, Rome ca. 1761 Hubert Robert French Over the course of his eleven year stay in Rome, from 1754 to 1765, Hubert Robert made several drawings of the Villa Giulia built in 1551-1553, following the designs of Giacomo Barozzi da Vignola (1507-1573). To enhance the beauty of the place, Pope Julius III commissioned the sculptor Bartolomeo Ammannati (1511-1592) to design the Nymphaeum and garden structures, which are renowned today as examples of Mannerist architecture in Rome. The first known view of the villa by Robert is a red chalk drawing dated 1758: the Colonnaded Courtyard of the villa Giulia (Boston, the Horvitz collection, D-F-745. See exh. cat., Hubert Robert, Washington, 2016, , ). The following year, Hubert Robert made five drawings representing the hay barn of the former villa (Musée des beaux-arts de Valence, D. 93 ; Saint-Petersburg, Hermitage Museum, 7662 ; Moscow, Pushkin Museum, 1071 ; Paris, Musée des Arts décoratifs, PE 57 ; private collection, see exh. cat. Washington, 2016, no. 9). In 1762, the young student depicted the villa's courtyard with a spectacular view of the semi-circular colonnade in a red chalk drawing dated 1762 (Valence, Musée des beaux-arts, inv. D. 70) and a watercolor dated 1763 (Vienna, Albertina, 12430. See Catherine Boulot in exh. cat. JH Fragonard e H Robert a Roma, Rome, 1990-1991, n° 121) as well as a riccordo sketch (New York, the Pierpont Morgan Library & Museum, folio 12 recto. See Sarah Catala in exh. cat. Hubert Robert, Paris, 2016, no. 20, p. 161).Our drawing is the only known view of the Nymphaeum. Ammanati's creation is a complex combination of a hemispherical façade and a three-leveled structure with loggias and caryatids on the ground floor. Hubert Robert was not attracted to the architecture of the two façades but, rather, to the faded beauty of the abandoned villa, transformed by the invasion of unkempt foliage and bales of hay ignobly stored at the bas
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