(Bordeaux, France, 1827 - 1886, Nogent-sur-Marne, France)
1869
Etchings on paper
12 3/8 x 17 3/4 in. (31.5 x 45.2 cm)
Collection of the Akron Art Museum
Gift of Miss Leona E. Prasse
1962.66 a-m
Through these images of a church ruin and an old tower inhabited only by pigeons, Lalanne addressed a prevalent theme in romantic art and literature: the fragility of human endeavors in the face of nature’s perpetual power. The great popularity of landscape imagery in the nineteenth century inspired European and American artists to explore a number of methods for rendering the subject, including printmaking, drawing, and photography.