The Dance
1777–79
Medium
Oil on canvas
Dimensions
68 1/4 x 33 5/8 in. (173.4 x 85.4 cm)
Classification
Paintings
Department
European Paintings
Museum
Metropolitan Museum of Art, New York, NY
Credit
Gift of J. Pierpont Morgan, 1917
Accession Number
17.190.28
Tags
Art Historical Context
In the late 1770s, French painter Hubert Robert captured the elegance and fantasy of 18th-century leisure in *The Dance* (1777–79), an oil-on-canvas masterpiece now gracing the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Measuring over five feet tall, this vertically oriented work depicts men and women joyfully dancing amid a dramatic natural setting featuring cascading waterfalls. Robert, often called "Robert des Ruines" for his evocative architectural landscapes, blends real and imagined elements here, evoking the Romantic spirit just before the French Revolution. Robert's neoclassical training shines thro...
About the Artist
Hubert Robert · 1733–1808
Hubert Robert, born on May 22, 1733, in Paris, emerged from a modest background; his father, Nicolas Robert, served the influential Choiseul family, whose patronage shaped the young artist's path. After completing his studies at the Jesuit Collège de Navarre in 1751, he entered the atelier of sculptor Michel-Ange Slodtz, who taught him design and perspective before encouraging a shift to painting....