Ruins on the Terrace in Marly Park

Robert produced a large number of park and garden scenes, such as this superb canvas. With a virtuoso mastery of his palette and of different painterly devices, the artist surely earned the title given him by Louis XVI for his work in the replanning of the park at Versailles: "draughtsman of the royal gardens". For a long time this painting was known as The Terrace at Marly , but the architecture and nature of the landscape are not in keeping with the park at Marly. Thus the work would seem to be simply a characteristic example of a decorative landscape, created through a compilation of motifs sketched from nature.