View of the back of the country house of Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre in Essonnes, near Fontainebleau, circa 1800.
<p>oil on canvas
21 1/4  by 25 3/4  in.; 54 by 65.5 cm.
</p>
Jacques-Henri Bernardin de Saint-Pierre (1737-1814) was a popular French author, best known for his 1788 novel Paul et Virginie. His country house, painted by Hubert Robert circa 1800, was designed by the architect Claude Nicolas Ledoux and constructed near the paper factory at Essonnes, which belonged to the publisher Pierre François Didot. Bernardin de Saint-Pierre married Didot's daughter at the house in 1793.
<bdi><a href="https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/en:Hubert_Robert" class="extiw" title="w:en:Hubert Robert"><span title="French painter (1733-1808)">Hubert Robert</span></a>
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