Lalanne’s highly refined etchings, with their subtle use of line and delicate sense of shading, exemplify the scope and depth of a medium that underwent a significant revival in the mid-nineteenth century. Inspired by the highly detailed prints of earlier practitioners such as Rembrandt van Rijn (1606–1669), artists like Lalanne sought to reassert the medium’s dominance as a fine art over its more mundane uses as a method for reproduction. Working alongside the publisher Alfred Cadart, Lalanne diligently worked to raise the profile of printmaking. As a founding member of the Société des Aquafortistes, he was a central figure of the etching revival, serving simultaneously as a fine artist, an intrepid entrepreneur, and a teacher.