Alphonse Robert (1807–1885) - River of Italy

Alphonse ROBERT
(Sèvres, 1807 – Sèvres, 1885)

River of Italy

Oil on canvas
Signed lower left
60 x 88cm

Painter on porcelain and painter on canvas, Alphonse Robert was born in Sèvres on March 19, 1807, and is the son of Jean François Robert (1778-1870), director of the Manufacture de Sèvres and Louise Sophie Pithou (1776-1842). He is also the nephew of Pierre Remy Robert (1783-1832), chemist, entered the Manufacture de Sèvres on January 1, 1815, head of the glass painting workshops, then guard of the Paris store from 1816 to 1822, who married Anne Caroline Olive Demarne (1789-1830), daughter of the painter Jean Louis Demarne (1752-1829). They had among their children Louis Rémy Robert (1810-1882), - first cousin of Alphonse Robert - who worked as a chemist at the Manufacture de Sèvres in the glass painting workshop then head of the painting and gilding and finally director of the Manufacture from 1871 to 1879.

Alphonse Robert was attached to the Manufacture de Sèvres from 1833 to 1837 as a landscape painter. He worked on the Forestry service started on January 10, 1834, following a program defined by Alexandre Brongniart. Some parts of this service were offered in 1850 to Sultan Abdulmejid (1838-1861) and others were sent to the Ministry of the Navy. Alongside his career at the Sèvres factory, Alphonse Robert also worked on easel painting and exhibited at the Paris, Valenciennes, and Boulogne Salons between 1827 and 1880 as a pupil of Léon Cogniet. He will also be rewarded with a second-class medal (landscape) in 1831.

Two of his paintings were exhibited in the apartments of the Palais de Saint-Cloud:
- King's apartments – Council room: View of the Grand Jet (Saint-Cloud Park), taken from the new path traced by the King
- Pavillon de Valois – Bedroom: View taken in Jonquières (Oise)

The artist died in Sèvres in 1885.