Plates V and VI of Les Soirées de Rome 1764

Curator: These are Plates V and VI from Les Soirées de Rome by Hubert Robert, currently residing at the Harvard Art Museums. It's a study in ruins, isn’t it? Editor: Absolutely. The texture is just fascinating—the rough, etched lines create a stark contrast. It really emphasizes the decay, the material breakdown. Curator: Indeed. Robert romanticizes the crumbling infrastructure, presenting them as picturesque relics within a grand narrative of time and empire. The market for such imagery was substantial during this period. Editor: I'm drawn to the labor implied in the creation of those structures depicted—the pyramid, the sarcophagus. The print itself is a testament to the labor required to both build and document such grandeur. Curator: And the figures! They're diminutive, almost overwhelmed by the scale of these crumbling monuments, highlighting the transience of human existence against the backdrop of history. Editor: It does make you think about the cost, both materially and in terms of labor, of building legacies that time will eventually dismantle. Curator: Precisely. The plates offer a poignant reflection on the public display of power and how it's remembered, or rather, how it fades from memory. Editor: These prints really capture a melancholic beauty, revealing so much about the social and material conditions that shaped not just the art, but the world it represents.