The sinuous lines and bold, saturated colors of this composition advertising a kerosene lamp, suggest the influence of the poster designs of Toulouse-Lautrec; the face and hairstyle of the woman on the right, who points out to her friend the brilliant lamp above them (unaccountably hanging from a tree), also indicate the Western taste for Japonisme during this period. Robbe was a highly successful Parisian printmaker, known for his experimental color aquatints and for his lively depictions of modern women. He trained at the Ecole des Beaux Arts under Eugène Delâtre. In 1900, he was awarded a bronze medal at the Paris Exposition for his contributions to printmaking. Between 1853 and 1870, Haussmann introduced some twenty thousand gaslights to the public buildings and streets of Paris as part of his modernization project; it became known as the “City of Light.” While electricity was introduced throughout Paris during the late 1870s, domestic interiors continued to be illuminated by kerosene or gas lamps, in many cases until the 1930s.