Study of a Cow, with Figure Seated Behind

Robert was at the center of the photographic community in Sèvres, on the outskirts of Paris. Like his father, he worked at the Sèvres royal porcelain factory, where he was appointed head of the painting workshop and then director of manufacturing. His dual interests in painting and chemistry -- essential for his role in the production of decorated porcelain -- led him to become one of the earliest French photographers to take up paper photography over the earlier copper plate daguerreotype. Artists such as Daubigny and Corot visited Sèvres to paint alongside the river Seine, and Robert must have known their compositions.