# Manuel Robbe artist context and auction value notes

Canonical page: https://appraisily.com/artist/manuel-robbe/
Profile generated: 2026-05-04T19:12:34.670Z
Quality: high confidence, strong sources

## Artist identity

- Birth date: 1872-12-16
- Nationality: French
- Movements: Belle Époque color printmaking revival
- Common media: color aquatint etching, à la poupée printing, oil painting, pastel, watercolor, illustration

## About Manuel Robbe

Manuel Robbe (1872–1936), born Emmanuel Robbe, was a French painter, printmaker, and illustrator recognized for his mastery of color aquatint and the à la poupée etching technique. Trained at the Académie Julian and the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, Robbe became a leading figure in the Belle Époque revival of multi-plate color printmaking. His prints were published in influential periodicals including Les Maîtres de l'Affiche, L'Estampe Moderne, and Cocorico, and he exhibited at the Société des Artistes Français and the 1900 Paris Exposition, where he received a bronze medal. During the First World War he served in the French military and was awarded the Croix de guerre. Works by Robbe are held in the collection of the Museum of Modern Art in New York, and his identity is recorded in the Library of Congress, VIAF, and RKD authority files.

## Common works and media

Robbe is best known for color aquatint etchings depicting women in domestic and leisure scenes, a hallmark subject of Belle Époque print culture. He also produced oil paintings, pastels, watercolors, and ink illustrations. Many of his prints were issued as part of editioned portfolios or magazine inserts, so collectors may encounter both signed impressions and unstamped series copies. Smaller format prints from L'Estampe Moderne and similar publications appear frequently in the auction market.

## Market and appraisal context

Manuel Robbe has a deep and well-documented secondary market with 409 auction lots recorded in the Appraisily database, of which 253 carry realized prices spanning from November 1996 through April 2026. The price distribution shows a wide but structured range: from $15 at the low end to $6,000 at the high end, with a median of $400 and an interquartile range of $200–$875. The most commonly encountered works are color aquatint etchings depicting women in Belle Époque domestic and leisure scenes, sold predominantly through US regional auction houses including Swann Auction Galleries, Rachel Davis Fine Arts, RoGallery, Greenwich Auction, and Leonard Auction, with occasional French house appearances (Piasa, Ader, Les Andelys Enchères). Notable houses such as Bonhams and Swann Auction Galleries anchor the upper tier of the market. The recent 12-month period shows 16 lots compared to 65 in the prior 12 months, indicating a meaningful decline in auction volume; additionally, many of the most recent lots carry no reported realized price, which may signal elevated buy-in rates or price-withholding by houses. Color aquatint etchings with strong à la poupée inking and signed impressions dominate the middle market ($200–$600), while smaller-format or less distinguished impressions trade in the $30–$200 range. Works in other media—charcoal-and-chalk drawings, drypoints, lithographs—appear occasionally and tend to price at or below the median.

## Auction-house-backed market evidence

Manuel Robbe has a deep and well-documented secondary market with 409 auction lots recorded in the Appraisily database, of which 253 carry realized prices spanning from November 1996 through April 2026. The price distribution shows a wide but structured range: from $15 at the low end to $6,000 at the high end, with a median of $400 and an interquartile range of $200–$875. The most commonly encountered works are color aquatint etchings depicting women in Belle Époque domestic and leisure scenes, sold predominantly through US regional auction houses including Swann Auction Galleries, Rachel Davis Fine Arts, RoGallery, Greenwich Auction, and Leonard Auction, with occasional French house appearances (Piasa, Ader, Les Andelys Enchères). Notable houses such as Bonhams and Swann Auction Galleries anchor the upper tier of the market. The recent 12-month period shows 16 lots compared to 65 in the prior 12 months, indicating a meaningful decline in auction volume; additionally, many of the most recent lots carry no reported realized price, which may signal elevated buy-in rates or price-withholding by houses. Color aquatint etchings with strong à la poupée inking and signed impressions dominate the middle market ($200–$600), while smaller-format or less distinguished impressions trade in the $30–$200 range. Works in other media—charcoal-and-chalk drawings, drypoints, lithographs—appear occasionally and tend to price at or below the median.

### Appraisal notes

An Appraisily appraisal for a Manuel Robbe work would begin by confirming medium (color aquatint etching, drypoint, charcoal drawing, pastel, etc.), dimensions, and signature presence from client-submitted photographs. The appraiser would then identify the specific title or series (e.g., works from L'Estampe Moderne or independent editions) and check for edition numbering, publisher stamps, or dry stamps, which materially affect value. Condition assessment would cover paper tone, margins, plate marks, foxing, and any evidence of trimming or mounting. Against this foundation, the appraiser would select comparable lots from the 253 priced records in the database, filtering for medium, plate size, edition type, and condition tier. Given the absence of a catalogue raisonné, attribution confidence would be qualified and the appraiser may recommend specialist examination for higher-value pieces. The wide price dispersion ($15–$6,000) means comparable selection is critical; a signed color aquatint in good condition with full margins would be compared against a different set than a trimmed, unstamped series print.

### Valuation factors

- Medium: color aquatint etchings with à la poupée inking are the most sought-after; plain etchings, drypoints, and lithographs typically trade lower
- Edition and series context: prints from L'Estampe Moderne or Les Maîtres de l'Affiche may lack individual edition numbering but carry publisher dry stamps; independent large-plate editions with pencil-signed impressions command premiums
- Signature: pencil-signed impressions in the margin are preferred; stamps or plate signatures alone reduce value relative to hand-signed examples
- Condition: paper tone, full margins vs. trimmed sheets, foxing, creasing, and plate-mark integrity are decisive for works on paper of this period
- Plate size and impression quality: larger plates with strong color registration and clean impressions tend toward the upper quartile; faded or poorly inked impressions fall below median
- Provenance: documented gallery or collector provenance adds modest premium; COA from a recognized house or specialist adds buyer confidence
- Market liquidity: the significant year-over-year volume decline (65 to 16 lots) and the number of recent unsold lots suggest the market may currently favor buyers

### Collector notes

- Robbe's prints appear regularly at auction, so patience can yield a well-priced example. Collectors should focus on color aquatint etchings with vivid, well-registered color and clear signatures for the strongest long-term value. Prints from the L'Estampe Moderne series are widely available but often lack margins or carry only a publisher stamp rather than a pencil signature—these are legitimate but trade at the lower end. For sellers, realistic estimates between $200 and $600 for typical signed color aquatints align with the observed median and interquartile range. Exceptional large-plate impressions in pristine condition may reach the $1,000–$6,000 band, but these are uncommon. Works in charcoal, pastel, or oil are rarer at auction and may require specialist valuation beyond the prints-heavy comparable pool. Given the current softness in auction volume, sellers may benefit from consigning to a specialist prints house such as Swann or Poster Auctions International rather than a general regional house.

### Market caveats

- No catalogue raisonné exists for Manuel Robbe; attribution and edition verification rely on specialist knowledge and published scholarship rather than a definitive reference
- The Appraisily database shows a significant decline in auction volume (65 lots in the prior 12 months down to 16 in the most recent 12 months), which may indicate market softening, reduced consignment activity, or incomplete recent data ingestion
- Many recent lots in the source pack carry null realized prices, making it difficult to assess current price trends with precision; the median and quartile figures reflect the full priced-lot history since 1996 rather than current-market-only conditions
- Price dispersion is wide ($15–$6,000); a single appraisal estimate should be grounded in medium-specific, condition-specific, and size-specific comparables rather than the overall artist range
- The majority of recorded sales are from US regional auction houses, which may not fully represent European or Parisian market conditions for a French artist
- Some lots listed as 'litho' or 'lithograph' in titles may be misattributed medium descriptions in auction catalogs—Robbe is principally known for intaglio printmaking (aquatint etching, drypoint), and collectors should verify medium independently

### Market evidence sources

- undefined: https://appraisily.com/api/scraper-search/artists/manuel-robbe/seo-profile?recentLimit=24&relatedLimit=0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-1872-1936-etching-aquatint-96-c-e88a91fb12
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-1872-1936-au-bois-en-tricycle-1907-40-c-07b4a96819
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-le-pastel-etching-aquatint-310-c-5494a0e8d0
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-1872-1936-french-signed-reclining-nude-etching-on-paper-1241-c-b004f40870
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-au-bord-du-lac-247-c-36d44bc801
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-signed-etching-la-critique-w-coa-139-c-8fc4599896
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-french-1872-1936-aquatint-in-color-118-c-79c41c7b7a
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-french-1872-1936-etching-117-c-93645ecbda
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-le-marche-en-bretagne-aquatint-etching-723-c-92a4c5dadb
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-avant-la-pose-signed-color-aquatint-2304-c-ff845b8bbb
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-french-1872-1936-la-voilette-charcoal-and-chalk-on-paper-408-c-3704ca8a76
- undefined: https://www.invaluable.com/auction-lot-manuel-robbe-1872-1936-le-bouquet-de-violettes-pointe-seche-e-595-c-fed4e4682d

## Appraisily data basis

Appraisily artist pages combine identity research from museum records, library authority files, and published references with auction-house context, sale dates, realized prices, and comparable lots when those records are available. For Manuel Robbe, sources include the Museum of Modern Art, the RKD, VIAF, the Library of Congress, and Wikidata.

## Sources

- RKD – Netherlands Institute for Art History: https://rkd.nl/en/explore/artists/67256
- Library of Congress: https://id.loc.gov/authorities/names/n79044509
- VIAF (OCLC): https://viaf.org/viaf/66735763/
- The Museum of Modern Art: https://www.moma.org/artists/4949
- Wikidata: https://www.wikidata.org/wiki/Q3286920
- Wikipedia: https://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Manuel_Robbe
- Getty Vocabulary Program: https://vocab.getty.edu/page/ulan/500041638