Bay of the Peristyle of Saint Peter

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In this drawing, an opposite painting of which the museum has on display, created using a mirror image, Hubert Robert gives us another very personal perspective. In it, the artist gives an exterior view of one of the galleries surrounding the forecourt, allowing a glimpse of the façade of the basilica through it. A diagonal perspective and an upward view allow him to create a complex geography and to multiply the framings and perspectives within the drawing itself, showing only fragments of architectures and spaces. It is a world of stone interrupted only by the presence of small working-class figures on the rock at the foot of the bay and by the pale triangle of sky against which two statues rise.