Principal Monuments of France (French : Principaux Monuments de la France) is a series of four paintings created by Hubert Robert in 1786. They depict the ruins of several Roman structures in Provence.
The paintings were made using oil on canvas. The subjects are ancient Roman ruins in Provence in southern France. The structures depicted are the interior of the Temple of Diana in Nîmes, the Triumphal Arch and Roman Theatre in Orange (combined in an imaginary perspective), the Maison Carrée, amphitheater and Tour Magne in Nîmes (also from an imaginary perspective), and the Pont du Gard over the Gardon river.
Hubert Robert (1733–1808) belonged to a trend of 18th-century veduta painters specialized on ancient ruins, established in France through Giovanni Paolo Panini and Claude Joseph Vernet. This trend was greatly supported by the development of archeology, which increased the interest in ancient buildings. Robert had traveled in Italy in 1754–1765 and painted many Roman ruins on location. After returning to France he continued to paint ancient ruins as well as idealized versions of French landscapes. [1]
The Principal Monuments of France was made in 1786 to decorate a room at the Palace of Fontainebleau, although the paintings were never installed at this location. In 1787 they were reproduced as engravings. The four paintings were also exhibited at the Salon in 1787. They were bought by the Bâtiments du Roi , but for unknown reasons two of them, The Arc and The Maison Carrée, were returned to the painter. On 13 July 1821 they were bequeathed by Robert's widow to the Louvre. [2] All four paintings are now found in the Department of Paintings in the Louvre. [3] [4] [5] [6]
In 1789, Robert painted The Ruins of Nîmes, Orange and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence , which depicts all ruins seen in the Principal Monuments series. [7]
The Arc de Triomphe de l'Étoile is one of the most famous monuments in Paris, France, standing at the western end of the Champs-Élysées at the centre of Place Charles de Gaulle, formerly named Place de l'Étoile—the étoile or "star" of the juncture formed by its twelve radiating avenues. The location of the arc and the plaza is shared between three arrondissements, 16th, 17th (north), and 8th (east). The Arc de Triomphe honours those who fought and died for France in the French Revolutionary and Napoleonic Wars, with the names of all French victories and generals inscribed on its inner and outer surfaces. Beneath its vault lies the Tomb of the Unknown Soldier from World War I.
The Louvre, or the Louvre Museum, is the world's most-visited museum, and a historic landmark in Paris, France. It is the home of some of the best-known works of art, including the Mona Lisa and the Venus de Milo. A central landmark of the city, it is located on the Right Bank of the Seine in the city's 1st arrondissement. At any given point in time, approximately 38,000 objects from prehistory to the 21st century are being exhibited over an area of 72,735 square meters. Attendance in 2022 was 7.8 million visitors, up 170 percent from 2021, but still below the 10.8 million visitors in 2018 before COVID.
La Grande Arche de la Défense, originally called La Grande Arche de la Fraternité, is a monument and building in the business district of La Défense and in the commune of Puteaux, to the west of Paris, France. It is usually known as the Arche de la Défense or simply as La Grande Arche. A 110-metre-high (360 ft) cube, La Grande Arche is part of the perspective from the Louvre to Arc de Triomphe, and was one of the Grands Projets of François Mitterrand. The distance from La Grande Arche to Arc de Triomphe is 4 km.
Nîmes is the prefecture of the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. Located between the Mediterranean Sea and Cévennes, the commune of Nîmes has an estimated population of 148,561 (2019).
The Pont du Gard is an ancient Roman aqueduct bridge built in the first century AD to carry water over 50 km (31 mi) to the Roman colony of Nemausus (Nîmes). It crosses the river Gardon near the town of Vers-Pont-du-Gard in southern France. The Pont du Gard is the tallest of all Roman aqueduct bridges, as well as one of the best preserved. It was added to UNESCO's list of World Heritage sites in 1985 because of its exceptional preservation, historical importance, and architectural ingenuity.
The Maison carrée is an ancient Roman temple in Nîmes, southern France; it is one of the best preserved Roman temples to survive in the territory of the former Roman Empire.
Hubert Robert was a French painter in the school of Romanticism, noted especially for his landscape paintings and capricci, or semi-fictitious picturesque depictions of ruins in Italy and of France.
Uzès is a commune in the Gard department in the Occitanie region of Southern France. In 2017, it had a population of 8,454. Uzès lies about 25 kilometres north-northeast of Nîmes, 40 kilometres west of Avignon and 32 kilometres south-east of Alès.
Roquemaure is a small town and commune in the Gard department of southern France. The town lies 12 kilometres north of Avignon on the right bank of the Rhône. In 2017 the commune had a population of 5,481.
French art consists of the visual and plastic arts originating from the geographical area of France. Modern France was the main centre for the European art of the Upper Paleolithic, then left many megalithic monuments, and in the Iron Age many of the most impressive finds of early Celtic art. The Gallo-Roman period left a distinctive provincial style of sculpture, and the region around the modern Franco-German border led the empire in the mass production of finely decorated Ancient Roman pottery, which was exported to Italy and elsewhere on a large scale. With Merovingian art the story of French styles as a distinct and influential element in the wider development of the art of Christian Europe begins.
Charles-Louis Clérisseau was a French architect, draughtsman, antiquary, and artist who became a leading authority on ancient Roman architecture and Roman ruins in Italy and France. With his influence extending to Russia, England, and the United States, and clients including Catherine the Great and Thomas Jefferson, Clérisseau played a key role in the genesis of neoclassical architecture during the second half of the 18th century.
The Louvre Palace, often referred to simply as the Louvre, is an iconic French palace located on the Right Bank of the Seine in Paris, occupying a vast expanse of land between the Tuileries Gardens and the church of Saint-Germain l'Auxerrois. Originally a military facility, it has served numerous government-related functions in the past, including intermittently as a royal residence between the 14th and 18th centuries. It is now mostly used by the Louvre Museum, which first opened there in 1793.
Le Cailar is a commune in the Gard department in southern France. It is located at the confluence of the River Vistre and the River Rhôny. It was an important port during the Iron Age at a time when lagoons connected to the Mediterranean Sea covered the adjoining low-lying land.
The architecture of Provence includes a rich collection of monuments from the Roman era, Cistercian monasteries from the Romanesque period, medieval castles and fortifications, as well as numerous hilltop villages and fine churches. Provence was a very poor region after the 18th century, but in the 20th century it had an economic revival and became the site of one of the most influential buildings of the 20th century, the Unité d'Habitation of the architect Le Corbusier in Marseille.
The Triumphal Arch of Orange is a triumphal arch located in the town of Orange, southeast France. There is debate about when the arch was built, but current research that accepts the inscription as evidence favours a date during the reign of emperor Augustus. It was built on the former via Agrippa to honor the veterans of the Gallic Wars and Legio II Augusta. It was later reconstructed by emperor Tiberius to celebrate the victories of Germanicus over the German tribes in Rhineland. The arch contains an inscription dedicated to emperor Tiberius in AD 27. Along with the Roman Theatre of Orange, the Triumphal Arch was inscribed on the UNESCO World Heritage List in 1981 because of its exceptional preservation.
Tourism in Paris is a major income source. Paris received 12.6 million visitors in 2020, measured by hotel stays, a drop of 73 percent from 2019, due to the COVID-19 virus. The number of foreign visitors declined by 80.7 percent. Museums re-opened in 2021, with limitations on the number of visitors at a time and a requirement that visitors wear masks.
The following is a timeline of the history of the city of Nîmes, France.
The Ruins of Nîmes, Orange and Saint-Rémy-de-Provence is a 1789 oil-on-canvas painting by the French artist Hubert Robert, now in the Gemäldegalerie, Berlin. It combines the ruins shown in his Principal Monuments of France series, with the Maison Carrée to the left, the Triumphal Arch of Orange and Nîmes' Temple of Diana to the right and the Pont du Gard, the Triumphal Arch of Glanum and the Glanum Mausoleum in the far background.
Pierre Parsus was a French painter and illustrator.