Auguste-Marie Delâtre was a creative etcher and engraver of his own work and also one of the greatest artist's printers of any era. He established his Paris printer's studio around 1855, from whence he instructed many great artists on etching techniques and published an influential treatise on the art form. Delâtre's international stature as a printer owed much to his reintroduction of 'plate tone' --a method of creating background tonal values within etching through artistically back wiping the inked plate before printing. Rembrandt and other seventeenth century Dutch masters had previously used this technique to great effect. This print makes ample use of the technique as well as drypoint etching to create an atmospheric haze in the morning sky.
Signed in the plate. On laid paper with faint watermark. Unframed but matted and loosely hinged with japan paper to backing board.