He was born in
Uzès. His father was the owner of a café and a
liqueur manufacturer who moved his family to
Lyon in 1846. He began by studying engraving at the
École nationale des beaux-arts de Lyon. After his father's death in 1863, he took his new wife and baby to Paris, where he studied with
Jean-Georges Vibert and copied the
Old Masters at the
Louvre. In 1865, after some financial hardships, he presented two paintings at the
Salon and, the following year, achieved success when one of his works was purchased by
Mathilde Bonaparte for 5,000
francs. He then decided to concentrate on costumed figures, mostly from the 18th century, and was awarded a contract for three canvases per month at an annual salary of 25,000 francs. Following the
Siege of Paris, he embarked on a long period of travelling, visiting Belgium and Algeria. Upon his return, he sold the works he had created for 10,000 francs, settled into a mansion and began collecting antiquities from the Middle Ages and the Renaissance. This eventually led to financial difficulties and his mansion was repossessed by his creditors. He was named a knight in the
Legion of Honour in 1893 and had many wealthy people among his clients – notably
Cornelius Vanderbilt, who paid 100,000 francs for one of his works at the
Palais de l'Industrie in 1893. He also painted many notable people in period costume, including Count
Robert de Montesquiou, Madame
Henriette Poincaré and General
Joseph Gallieni. He died in Paris on 11 April 1920. Toward the end of his life, he had turned to religious subjects, producing a tableau of 22 paintings depicting the
Passion of Christ. After his death, in 1921, they were the subject of a special showing at the Salon. Six years later, the was established in
Courbevoie by
Consuelo Fould, who owned a large number of Roybet's paintings. ==Selected paintings==