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Alfred Thompson Gobert

1849–55
Not on view
Louis Robert grew up on the premises of the Royal Porcelain Factory at Sèvres and assumed the leadership of its Painting Workshop in 1847. Inclined by training and temperament toward endeavors that brought painting and chemistry together, he was among the earliest French artists to take up paper photography as an amateur pursuit, in about 1850.


Robert’s colleague Alfred Gobert, head of the Enameling Workshop at Sèvres, is shown here with his head slightly bowed and his eyes half closed (in part to help maintain his pose during a long exposure in bright sunlight), as if lost in thought. The shallow depth of field—only Gobert’s face is in focus—and the flecks of light and soft massing of shadows so characteristic of prints from paper negatives heighten the sense that this portrait is a privileged meditation by Robert on the interior world of his friend.

Artwork Details

Object Information
  • Title: Alfred Thompson Gobert
  • Artist: Louis-Rémy Robert (French, 1810–1882)
  • Date: 1849–55
  • Medium: Salted paper print from paper negative
  • Dimensions: 22.6 x 16.8 cm (8 7/8 x 6 5/8 in.)
  • Classification: Photographs
  • Credit Line: Purchase, Joyce and Robert Menschel, Mrs. Harrison D. Horblit and Paul F. Walter Gifts, and Rogers Fund, 1991


  • Object Number: 1991.1044
  • Curatorial Department: Photographs

More Artwork

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Jacques-Joseph Ebelman on his Deathbed, Louis-Rémy Robert French, Waxed paper negative
Jacques-Joseph Ebelman on his Deathbed
Louis-Rémy Robert
March 31, 1852
Jules André, Louis-Rémy Robert French, Salted paper print
Jules André
Louis-Rémy Robert
1850–55
Romesnil, Louis-Rémy Robert French, Salted paper print from paper negative
Romesnil
Louis-Rémy Robert
1850–55
[Village Scene, Brittany], Louis-Rémy Robert French, Paper negative
[Village Scene, Brittany]
Louis-Rémy Robert
ca. 1854
[Gardens of the Château de Saint-Cloud], Louis-Rémy Robert French, Paper negative
[Gardens of the Château de Saint-Cloud]
Louis-Rémy Robert
ca. 1853

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