The Teatro delle Acque in the garden of the Villa Aldobrandini

A magnificent villa nestled in the hills outside Rome. Against the backdrop of the Baroque 'Water Theater,' where water cascades down a stepped waterfall, people relax at leisure in the garden. Enveloped in soft pastel shades of green and blue, an elegant and tranquil time flows by.

In 1754, the painter Hubert Robert, in his early twenties, traveled to Rome and stayed there for eleven years. What captivated him were the ancient ruins hinting at past glories, the grand architecture of the Renaissance and Baroque periods, and old gardens overgrown with lush vegetation. Together with his close friend, the painter Fragonard, he toured famous sites including Villa Aldobrandini, spending his days engrossed in sketching.

This villa, built in the early 17th century for a Pope's nephew, had already seen over a hundred years pass by the time Robert visited it. The magnificent artificial beauty created by former powerful figures had, over many years, gradually blended with nature, exuding an ineffably romantic atmosphere.

What he captured on canvas was not merely a precise record of a landscape. He depicted architectural structures imbued with great memories of the past, alongside contemporary people enjoying their everyday lives in front of them. Within the grand flow of 'time' that seems to stretch on forever, Robert remarkably tenderly portrayed the fleeting yet beautiful sparkle of the 'present' moment.