Arthur et Robert (also manufacture Arthur et Robert) was a Paris-based wallpaper manufacturer active during the late 18th and early 19th centuries.
Louis Figuier tells the story of how the first French wallpaper factory was set up: "The war with England having suspended trade relations between the two nations, and consequently the importation of wallpaper, a Parisian merchant named Robert, conceived a plan to establish and permanently secure the wallpaper industry in France.
Almost at the same time, an English watchmaker named Arthur, in partnership with one of his compatriots, set up a business in Paris, in the rue de l'Arbalète in which he had designs executed on paper, no longer with simple stencils but with carved woodblocks, as was the practice in England. Arthur and Robert having communicating their methods, they joined forces to carry out both types of production."Louis Figuier, Les merveilles de l'industrie ou Description des principales industries modernes: industries chimiques. Le sucre, le papier, les papiers peints, Furne, Jouvet (Paris), 1873-1877, p. 315. On Gallica:
John (known in France as "Jean") Arthur was born in Oswestry, England, on March 25, 1716; he married in Paris on September 18, 1756 (with Suzanne Charlotte Dejean (ca 1736–1805), became Master Watchmaker in 1757.Francearchives
John Arthur, "Papetier-Marchand pour meubles"Conservatoire numérique des Arts et Métiers established before 1772 on quai Conti, not far from the Pont Neuf, manufactured both "papier peint" (painted paper) and velvet paper. His success enabled him to buy land from Mr. d'Angivilliers and build a house on the rue Louis-Le-Grand. The owner of the Pavillon de Hanovre, across the street, the Maréchal de Richelieu, made complications for him. An invoice from 1781 shows that Arthur was still on Quai Conti; in 1784, the store and workshops were (or had been) transferred to the new address. The buildings of the "Manufacture de Papiers Tontisses (or velvet) et Peints" quickly became a tourist attraction featuring in guidebooks: "200 workers are employed there daily in the immense workshops, which allow the curious to follow all the manufacturing operations, whose details Mr. Arthur is pleased to make known to amateurs".Henri Clouzot et Charles Follot, Histoire du papier peint en France, page 100 et seq.,
Tourist guides Luc-Vincent Thiéry, Guide des amateurs et des étrangers voyageurs a Paris, ou Description raisonnée de cette ville, de sa banlieue, & de tout ce qu'elles contiennent de remarquable. Volume 1 (A Guide for amateurs and foreigners travelling to Paris, or a reasoned description of this city, its suburbs, & all their remarkable features enriched with perspective views of the principal modern monuments by M. Thiéry, Paris, chez Hardouin & Gattey, 1787. Réveillon's workshops are also mentioned, pp. 639-639), Gallica: drew travellers' attention to these attractions. We can read an account of one such visit, on August 10, 1784, in the diary of a Mrs Cradock translated into French. She mentions the exceptional quality of the wallpapers, the astonishing realism of the motifs depicted, the "terrace surrounded by an iron fence and overlooking a part of Paris and its surroundings", and "the six workshops. They are placed one below the other and each has its own specialty: one is for colouring, another for gilding, a third for printing, etc.".Journal de Mme Cradock. Voyage en France, 1783-1786. Paris, 1896, in-12,
This fits perfectly with a representation of Arthur's workshops by G. Moette.Représentation en coupe des huit étages de la Manufacture de papiers peints de Arthur et Grenard, vers 1780 (Cross-section of the eight floors of the Arthur and Grenard wallpaper factory), Musée des Arts Décoratifs, Paris, inv. 37360.1-8: Pen and black ink, grey wash, watercolour, gouache highlight, 89cm x 39cm, At the very top, one can see the terrace and the hot greenhouse, and below, one can follow all the stages in the manufacture of wallpaper, including the "mill and colour factory". The name of the company is shown on the frame: Arthur père et fils and Grenard.
It seems that "Gouverneur Morris took Thomas Jefferson on a day trip to visit "Old man Arthur's wallpaper factory" when they both lived in Paris" Thomas Jefferson, American Minister to the Court of Louis XVI (October 1785 – September 1789) placed orders at the Arthur et Grenard (and later, Arthur et Robert) shop in 1786 and 1790. In the Memorandum book for 1786, he noted "for Arthur for Paper hangings for hotel" - presumably the Hôtel de Langeac he then rented for his own residence. In 1790, Jefferson seems to have resided at Monticello.Sources: , , .
According to (1850–1927), a François Robert was received as a paper merchant in April 1767 and set up business , a stone's throw from the rue Louis-le-Grand. It is undoubtedly that shop that was called 'A l'empereur de la Chine'. In 1771, the same author added that Robert was now in the rue de la Place-Vendôme - the name of the rue Louis-le-Grand between 1798 or 1799 and 1814 - and writes that he appeared in the 1771 "Almanach des Marchands", with this indication: " Holds a shop selling velvety, English, Chinese, Indian-style wallpapers, etc." In the same list, Grand-Carteret mentions "Arthur et Robert, fabricants de papiers peints" (the same company), and "Arthur et Grenard, Marchands de papiers peints, on the old Boulevard, opposite the French Guards Regiment building", and he rightly envisages that it the same company. According to the Pop database, it was in 1775 that Arthur joined forces with the merchant René Grenard.René Grenard: ca 1749 - La Garenne-Colombes - guillotined July 29, 1794 - Paris. "Société entre Jean Arthur, fabriquant de papier peint, quai Conti, et René Grenard, marchand mercier et directeur de la fabrique de Jean Arthur", 1775. Francearchives: The Pop base also shows some photos of their wallpapers.Arthur and Grenard on 'Base Pop' Grand-Carteret noticed a curious advertisement by the Arthur et Grenard manufacture which "Makes and sells women's belts, which are printed on satin ribbon, in the style of Etruscan paintings, arabesques and antique cameos."Grand Carteret, Papetiers et papeteries de l'Ancien temps, Paris, 1913, p. 192 This highlights the links between the manufacture of wallpaper and printed fabrics. Both types of businesses employed decorative artists and painters."Traité entre Jean Arthur, René Grenard, tous deux marchands de papier rue Louis-le-Grand, paroisse de la Madeleine, et François Alexandre de Mauléon, dessinateur et peintre en décoration", 1787. France archives :; "Traité entre Jean Arthur, René Grenard, ... et Marie Edme Bourgouin, peintre, rue Meslay, paroisse Saint-Sauveur", 1787. France archives :
Grand-Carteret adds that around 1788 the place took the name of "Manufacture de papiers peints pour Tentures et Décorations"."Manufacture of wallpaper to cover walls and decorate them". John Grand-Carteret, (1850-1927) - Musée rétrospectif de la classe 92. Papeterie et papetiers de l'ancien temps, à l'exposition universelle internationale de 1900, à Paris. Rapport du comité d'installation. Paris: Georges Putois, 1913, 1 vol. (XII--342 p.): ill.; 29 cm: The wallpaper factory became a "manufacture royale" on November 22, 1788. As a "fournisseur de la Maison du Roi", they supplied wallpapers for Versailles and the Tuileries Palace - whose unique wallpaper supplier they were.Bernard Jacqué notes that Arthur and Grenard were the only wallpaper manufacturer to do business with the King's household and adds ( note 459) that Jean-Baptiste Réveillon did not: .
When at the end of the Women's March on Versailles, in October 1789, the Royal family were brought from Versailles to the dilapidated Tuileries Palace in Paris, some decorating work was in order. Marie-Antoinette had the walls of her dining room covered with green (cendre verte, or green ash) paper, with all around it hundreds of feet of "Tors de fleurs" floral paper (probably garlands of flowers), along with 229 paper rosettes to adorn the spandrels. This sparked a trend across Europe for plain backgrounds with floral borders.Jacqué Jacqué also mentions a letter from Nicolas Dollfus's new manufacture in Mulhouse to the great painter Joseph-Laurent Malaine requiring him to provide designs for such decorative paper strips featuring flowers, previously exclusive to Paris (specifically crafted by Réveillon and by Arthur et Grenard). In the first appendix of his PhD thesis, Jacqué gives a complete list of the wallpapers supplied "pour l'Appartement du Roy" aux Tuileries to redecorate the Cabinet de travail du Roy and adjoining library, the antechamber, the King's bedchamber and alcove, the Queen's dining room, etc. And there were other "appartments" that were redecorated at the Tuileries.
In 1789, the factory changed hands when François Robert, who had been Arthur Sr's partner, purchased it. He formed a partnership with Arthur Jr., Jean-Jacques. This may have something to do with the fact that when the duc de Richelieu died, the Folie Richelieu was put on sale for "120.000 livres de principal" (i.e. excluding other costs) and acquired by Jean Arthur and his wife, his son Jean-Jacques Arthur, and René Grenard. They took possession of their new and vast property located only about 1 kilometre North of their current premises, on June 26, 1789, with no doubt some very ambitious plans in mind, but this rather ill-timed investment came to nothing.Société de l'histoire de Paris et de l'Île-de-France, Bulletin de la Société de l'histoire de Paris et de l'Ile-de-France 1931, H. Champion (Paris), page 293
During the Revolution, the firm was renamed "Manufacture de papiers peints pour tentures et décorations des citoyens Arthur et Robert, Rue des Piques au coin du boulevard" - the rue des Piques being none other than the old rue Louis-le-Grand.Rue Louis-le-Grand is less than a 10-minute walk from Robespierre’s place (366 rue Saint-Honoré – now 398), on the other side of place des Piques, and Robespierre’s brother lived just a little further away (on the rue Saint-Florentin). Claude-Louis Chatelet also lived on the rue Louis-le-Grand. They belonged to the "Section des Piques"—a pike being the typical weapon of the revolutionaries. Colin Jones, La Chute de Robespierre : vingt-quatre heures dans le Paris révolutionnaire, Fayard - 2024 The stability of businesses was always threatened by poor payments, debtors who had disappeared or become insolvent, irregular supplies, etc. The new owner, Robert, also had to meet his financial commitments, since he had had to take out two loans, 1789 and 1791, to buy the company.
In May 1791, the Arthur and Robert Company suffered a serious loss as a result of the circulation of false bills of exchange issued by counterfeiters, including one they employed as printer. The following year, the scarcity of cash made it impossible for them (for a time, at least) to pay the salaries of their 400 employees: the Treasury only agreed to change 1,800 pounds of assignats per week into cash, an insufficient sum.Henri Clouzot and Charles Follot, Histoire du papier peint en France, page 107
Another problem was the instability of a workforce that was always too ready to leave the workshops to take part in a riot or join the defence of the country. Robert's workers were particularly involved: following the insurrection of slaves, at the beginning of the Haitian Revolution, which many compared to the storming of the Bastille by the Parisians, L'Auditeur national notes that "The workers at Messrs Arthur and Robert's wallpaper factory gave 600 livres in écus.L'Auditeur national, May 28, 1792 . Another source: .