Appointed as designer of the King’s gardens, he worked in particular at Versailles and Rambouillet. He was also sought after by aristocrats and wealthy financiers to design many famous gardens around Paris such as those at Méréville (now destroyed) where he created terraces, galleries, ponds, fountains, statues, staircases and avenues with a variety of vistas, following his fancy and imagination.

Hubert Robert plays here on the contrast between the magnificent and majestic garden and the mundanity of the familiar scene taking place there as the ornamental pond is transformed into a washhouse. In this harmonious setting, there reigns an exquisite atmosphere, the charm of a contented life which Hubert Robert creates with all the finest qualities of his art: a fluid approach, light colours, silvery hues, the art of glazing and superimposed shades, the interplay of light and a lively, witty touch.