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Nighttime Festivities with Fireworks in the Gardens of the Petit Trianon

1782–83
Not on view
Returned to lender
This work of art was on loan to the museum and has since been returned to its lender.
Robert’s painting, perhaps made to decorate the queen’s apartments at the Petit Trianon, shows crowds of people assembled around the Temple of Love to observe a fireworks display staged for Paul and Maria Feodorovna of Russia in 1782. Other nocturnal illumination events, such as those arranged for Emperor Joseph II in 1781 and for King Gustav III of Sweden in 1784, involved lighting fires in earthenware pots and placing them around the buildings, an effect that Gustav described as a "perfect enchantment."

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Nighttime Festivities with Fireworks in the Gardens of the Petit Trianon
  • Artist: Hubert Robert (French, Paris 1733–1808 Paris)
  • Date: 1782–83
  • Medium: Oil on canvas
  • Dimensions: Unframed: 23 5/8 × 29 1/8 in. (60 × 74 cm)
    Framed: 30 7/8 × 12 13/16 × 4 3/4 in. (78.5 × 32.5 × 12 cm)
  • Classification: Paintings
  • Credit Line: Musée des Beaux-Arts de Quimper, Bequest of Comte de Silguy (873-1-411)
  • Curatorial Department: European Sculpture and Decorative Arts