Papf was a prominent figure in the genre of fotopinturas, the process of retouching photographs to make them resemble oil paintings, having produced several portraits for the Brazilian Imperial Family.

Not wishing to follow in his family's profession, Papf found the means to enroll at the Dresden Academy of Fine Arts in around 1850.

In 1867, Papf received an offer of employment from his compatriot Albert Henschel, who operated a photography studio in Brazil.

Only a short time after his arrival in Rio de Janeiro, Papf, owing to his success and reputation as a photographer and painter, was invited to produce portraits of important figures of the Brazilian Imperial Family, including Princess Isabel and her Prince Gaston, Count of Eu.

As the nineteenth century reached an end, a great economic and social surge occurred in São Paulo, owing to a rapidly expanding coffee industry, and Papf, following the path of opportunity, bought a farm in Sabaúna in 1899[2] where he would reside until his death in São Paulo on March 16 1910, the day before his seventy-seventh birthday.

In Children (1886), the contour of the lips, eyes and ears, clearly defined by the artist's hand, serves as a strong example of Papf's ability for crafting realism.