- The Dismantling of the Church of the Holy Innocents, Paris in 1785
- B.M.312
- French
Length: 114.6 cm
Width: 129.5 cm
Length: Frame 126 cm
Width: Frame 142 cm
Depth: Frame 6 cm
The Church of the Holy Innocents in the centre of Paris was demolished in 1785 in an attempt to stop the spread of disease. Its cemetery and crypt were literally overflowing and contaminating the area with a lethal ‘miasma'. From around 1780 onwards Robert began to paint a number of buildings in Paris which were being destroyed, often as a result of the civil unrest which preceded the Revolution. Whereas before he had gained fame through painting buildings in an imagined state of ruin, now he was making a documentary record of the changing city.