Robert Robinson worked in London from 1674. On 12 May that year he became a freeman of the Painter Stainer's Company, marking the beginning of his career. By 1695 he was living in Fleet Street with his wife, Elizabeth, and children, Samuel and Sarah. Samuel became one of several apprentices that Robinson took on. Many of his paintings are capriccios or chinoiseries, such as the painted panels for No. 5 Botolph Lane (now St John Cass School, Aldgate) and (probably) panels for the Painted Room in Carshalton House, Surrey (1690s). However, he was primarily a scene painter, although little of his work in this area is now known. In March 1700 he began work on scenery for Settle’s opera ‘The Virgin Prophetess’, at the Theatre Royal, Drury Lane.
