The Column 1789

Hubert Robert painted The Column in France sometime in the late 18th or early 19th century. The scene suggests a longing for a lost classical past that preoccupied many artists of the period. But this wasn't just a benign interest in antiquity; the column here is ruined, a fragment of a lost civilization, a testament to the rise and fall of empires. Robert specialised in picturesque ruins, and this motif spoke to anxieties about the present-day social order in pre-revolutionary France. The image implies a critique of contemporary institutions, hinting that like the Roman Empire, the French monarchy and aristocracy might one day crumble into picturesque ruins. To understand Robert's image more fully, we might ask what kinds of buildings were being constructed at this time, who was commissioning them, and what social functions they served. The answers to such questions will help us grasp the full significance of this column as more than just a pretty sight.