of France. Robert invaded his native country in the English interest, but was mortally wounded at Vannes in 1343.—J. T.
ROBERT, Count Palatine of the Rhine, and duke of Bavaria, was chosen emperor in 1400. Having supported the claims of the antipope, Gregory XII., he gave offence to the German princes. He was distinguished rather for piety and justice than for success in warlike exploits. He died 18th May, 1410.
ROBERT, Claude, a learned Frenchman, born at Cheslay on the borders of Burgundy in 1564, studied at Paris, and was presented to a canonry at Dijon. He travelled with a pupil through France, Flanders, Germany, and Italy, and at Rome was received with great distinction by the Cardinals Bellarmine, Baronius, and D'Ossat. He died in 1637 at Chalons, where he had held a canonry. His principal work, "Gallia Christiana," &c., was published in folio at Paris in 1626. The materials which he left for a second edition were made use of by St. Marthe, who published the work in 3 vols.
* ROBERT-FLEURY, Joseph Nicolas, a celebrated French painter, was born 8th of August, 1797, at Cologne, then in the department of the Röer. He studied in Paris, and obtained a medal of the second class in 1824. Robert-Fleury early distinguished himself as a partisan of what is known in France as the neo-romantic school. His subjects are mostly incidents from the by-paths of history, or the biography of eminent men, but he is classed by his countrymen among the painters of genre. Among his most characteristic pictures are, "Le Colloque de Poissy," now in the Luxembourg; "Une Scène d'Inquisition;" "Benvenuto Cellini;" "Charles-Quint au Monastère de Saint-Just;" and "Louis XIV.," the two last of which were in the International Exhibition of 1862. M. Robert-Fleury's works are characterized by sobriety of style, careful drawing and execution, a warm tone of colour, and refinement of expression. In 1836, M. Robert-Fleury was created knight, and in 1849 officer of the legion of honour. In 1850 he was elected member of the Institute, and professor in the École des beaux-arts.—J. T—e.
ROBERT of Geneva. See Clement VII.
ROBERT of Gloucester, the author of a metrical chronicle of England, is supposed to have been a monk of that city, but nothing of his biography is known with certainty. His chronicle is a versified narrative of British and English history, from the imaginary arrival of Brutus to the death of Henry III. From a reference which it contains to the canonization of St. Louis, it must have been written after 1297. Robert of Gloucester follows Geoffrey of Monmouth and William of Malmesbury, without spirit or talent of his own. His chronicle is printed in rhymed lines of fourteen syllables or seven accents, easily divisible into two lines of eight and six syllables. It has some little value as a specimen of early English, marked moreover by west of England peculiarities. There are samples of it in Warton and Ellis. It was printed by Hearne in 1727.—F. E.
ROBERT GROSSETESTE. See Grosseteste.
ROBERT, Louis Leopold, one of the most popular of modern painters, was born at La Chaux-de-Fonds, in the canton of Neufchâtel, Switzerland, May 13, 1794. He was brought up as an engraver, studied a short time in the school of David at Paris, and then in 1816 went back to Switzerland. In 1818 he went to Italy, studying first in Rome, where he created some sensation by his pictures of Italian peasants and brigands. From Rome he went to Naples, painting similar works; and from Naples he went to Venice, establishing everywhere a peculiar reputation of his own. He sent several remarkable pictures to the Paris exhibitions from these several cities; and in 1831 he visited Paris a second time, when he was decorated with the cross of the legion of honour. He was again residing in Venice in 1832, and here some unfortunate love affair is said to have overwhelmed him, and he died by his own hand, on the 20th of March, 1835—by a singular coincidence the tenth anniversary of the day on which a brother had committed the same act of insanity. Leopold Robert belongs to the higher class of genre painters, and his pictures are admirable illustrations of the modern life of Italy. Among his best works, three representing the seasons in Italy are especially popular—"The Fête of the Madonna del arco," Spring; "The Reapers of the Pontine Marshes," Summer; and his last picture, "The Departure of the Fishermen of the Adriatic," Winter; the reapers or moissonneurs is the most striking composition. All are finely engraved by Z. Prevost, as well as another celebrated picture, "The Neapolitan Improvisatore," painted in 1821. The least successful part of these pictures is their colouring; they are somewhat heavy and mealy, but they are finely composed and drawn, and their sentiment is admirable. A life of Robert has been published by M. Feuillet de Conches—Leopold Robert, sa vie, ses œuvres, et sa correspondance, 2d edition, 8vo, Paris, 1854.—R. N. W.
ROBERTS, David, R.A., was born at Stockbridge, Edinburgh, October 24, 1796, and was apprenticed to a decorative painter in Edinburgh, but received some instructions in art in the Trustees' Academy of that city. On the expiration of his apprenticeship, he practised as a scene-painter both in Edinburgh and Glasgow. In 1821 he came to London, and for some years pursued the same calling, working for part of the time in conjunction with Stanfield, and with him helping greatly to elevate the character of the scenery in the theatres of the metropolis. Whilst thus engaged, however, he painted some oil pictures, chiefly of architectural subjects: his first picture exhibited was at the British Institution in 1824; his name first occurs among the exhibiters at the Royal Academy in 1826. But he for some time contributed most regularly to the exhibitions of the Society of British Artists, of which society he was a member, and at the time of his secession vice-president. Mr. Roberts' annual sketching tours on the continent usually followed the common track till 1832, when he went to Spain, then seldom visited by artists. He stayed there several months, made a large number of careful drawings, and on his return published a folio volume of lithographic facsimiles of his Spanish sketches, which with his oil paintings of Spanish buildings and scenery, may be said to have completely established his reputation. He also during four years (1835-38) furnished the drawings—views in Spain and Morocco—for the Landscape Annual. He was now (1838) elected A.R.A., and in the course of this summer started on a tour in the East, during which he made a surprising number of carefully-finished sketches of the architecture and scenery. Facsimiles of these, lithographed by Mr. L. Haghe, were published under the title of "The Holy Land, Syria, Idumea, Arabia, Egypt, and Nubia," in four large folio volumes, 1842, &c. This work, the most splendid of its kind yet produced in England, was received with great favour abroad as well as at home. Mr. Roberts, who had been elected R A. in 1841, continued for some years to paint chiefly views in the East, as—"The Temple of Edfou;" "The Statues of the Vocal Memnon;" "The Temple of Karnak;" "Jerusalem from the Mount of Olives," &c., but with them he occasionally exhibited a Spanish, a Belgian, or a Dutch church interior. In 1850 and following years appeared the results of some Italian tours in views from the canals of Venice, the streets of Verona, the cathedrals of Pisa and Milan, and the glories of ancient and modern Rome; while in 1862 occurred a total change of subject, in a series of "Views of London on the River Thames." All, or nearly all Mr. Roberts' pictures hitherto referred to, are more or less architectural representations. But two of his largest and most elaborate works are of a somewhat different character. One is "The Destruction of Jerusalem," painted seemingly in rivalry with Martin, and which has been copied on a very large scale in chromo-lithography; the other is "The Inauguration of the Exhibition of All Nations, 1851"—a picture generally known by the engraving. Two of Mr. Roberts' pictures are in the Vernon, and three in the Sheepshanks collections. The Scottish Academy, of which Mr. Roberts was a member, has one. Mr. Roberts was in 1858 honoured by the city of Edinburgh with a public dinner, when the freedom of the city was presented to him. He died on the 25th November, 1864.—J. T—e.
ROBERTSON, Alexander, of Strowan, a Highland chief and poet, was born about the year 1670. He was educated for the clerical office at the university of St. Andrews, but on the death of his father and elder brother he succeeded to the family inheritance about the time of the Revolution. His father had enjoined him on his deathbed to adhere to the loyal principles of his family, and when the Jacobite standard was raised in the Highlands, young Strowan and his clan repaired to it on the day after the battle of Killiecrankie. He was in consequence attainted and deprived of his estate, and lived for some time at the court of St. Germains. In 1703 he returned to Scotland, having obtained from Queen Anne a promise of the remission of his attainder and forfeiture. Unwarned by his sufferings, he took part in the rebellion of 1715, fought at the battle of Sheriffmuir, and was twice taken prisoner, but made his escape, and spent another period of exile and poverty in France. He was once more permitted to return home in 1726, and had his forfeiture reversed
