𝒯𝒽𝑒 𝐹𝒾𝓇𝑒 𝑜𝒻 𝑅𝑜𝓂𝑒, 𝟣𝟪 𝒥𝓊𝓁𝓎 𝟨𝟦 𝒜𝒟 - 𝐻𝓊𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓉 𝑅𝑜𝒷𝑒𝓇𝓉

When Hubert Robert exhibited this painting at the Salon de Paris in 1785, his work was met with widespread acclaim, earning enthusiastic praise from Diderot. This reaction was unsurprising, as the painting both solidified Robert's aesthetic vision and resonated with the period's fascination with the "sublime".

Robert's artistic trajectory was shaped during his time in Rome, where he lived from 1754 to 1765. There he transformed from a landscape artist to a renowned painter of architectural scenes, earning him the moniker *Robert des ruines* (Robert of the Ruins).

The choice to depict the Great Fire of Rome in 64 AD offered Robert a chance to combine his passion for architectural representation with the era's taste for the sublime—a style that evoked profound, often awe-inspiring, emotions. This great disaster lasted for nine days in total, and in the aftermath of the fire, 71% of Rome had been destroyed (10 out of 14 districts).

According to Tacitus and later Christian tradition, Emperor Nero blamed the devastation on the Christian community in the city, initiating the empire's first persecution against the Christians. Other contemporary historians blamed Nero's incompetence but it is commonly agreed by historians now that Rome was so tightly packed a fire was inevitable.

But let's go back to the painting. *The Fire of Rome* is structured around a dramatic backlighting effect that unifies the composition, presenting more than a mere historical event. The work conveys the clash between two colossal forces—history and nature—as symbolized by the disparity in scale. Through this tension, Rome is both glorified and destroyed.

In this composition, Robert employs his signature vocabulary of temple facades and arches, creating an immense framework for human drama within the broader historical narrative. The decision to focus exclusively on female figures fleeing the fire heightens the scene's emotional intensity, while the inclusion of an ancient statue at the center, placed above a mother leading her child down the stairs, symbolically reflects the coexistence of two realms: the ancient and the modern, the divine and the earthly. #artsr