The Senate House, Cambridge, from The Portfolio

London: Seeley & Co, 1880. Etching and engraving on watermarked WBW Portfolio cream laid paper, 10 1/8 x 7 inches (255 x 175 mm), full margins. Minor mat tone and with the tip of the lower right corner missing, otherwise in very good condition. From The Portfolio, vol. 11, edited by P. G. Hamerton. An impression of this work may be found in the permanent collection of the Metropolitan Museum of Art. Well known as an etcher of lively street scenes and architecture, Alfred-Louis Brunet-Debaines began his studies at the École des Beaux-Arts in Paris, in 1863. He learned etching techniques under the tutelage of masters such as Maxime Lalanne and Jules Jacquemart. Brunet-Debaines proved to be a gifted printmaker, and exhibited his first prints at the Paris Salon of 1866. Several years later he was invited to England by the influential writer and critic, Philip Gilbert Hamerton, who commissioned him to contribute original etchings to a number of his publications, including "The Portfolio," and "Etching and Etchers." Brunet-Debaines spent a large portion of his career working and living in London, and was a regular exhibitor at the Royal Academy between 1872 and 1886. His print work may be found in the permanent collection of major institutions throughout Europe.