Doorway to Sèvres Factory
Louis-Rémy Robert (French, 1811–1882)
c. 1852
- Medium
- salted paper print, waxed, from waxed paper negative
- Classification
- Photograph
- Dimensions
- Image: 32.7 x 26.2 cm (12 7/8 x 10 5/16 in.)
- Culture
- France, Sèvres
- Museum
- Cleveland Museum of Art, Photography
- Credit line
- Norman O. Stone and Ella A. Stone Memorial Fund
- Rights
- Public domain (CC0), as the museum states it.
- Who can see it
- Teens profiles and older: its museum says too little about what it shows to place it for younger viewers. How works are placed
View at the Cleveland Museum of Art
About this work
Originally trained by his father as a painter on glass and porcelain, Louis-Rémy Robert was taught photography by Henri-Victor Regnault, a close associate and director of the Sèvres porcelain factory. Particularly known for landscape and architectural views, Robert depicted here the gateway to the Sèvres factory, where he was head of the painting and gilding studio from 1848–1871. He then became director of the factory for eight years. In this scene, the artist not only provided a sense of place, but also transformed a complex composition into a unified, compelling assemblage of shapes, textures, and tonalities. The print is shown with its original waxed paper negative—an unusual occurrence since early negatives have rarely survived the passage of time.
