Rodolphe Bresdin (1825-1885) was a French draughtsman and engraver born in Monrelais, Le Fresne-sur-Loire on August 12, 1822, to a tanner and silver-polisher, Denis Bresdin and Genevieve-Francoise Buisson, an aristocrat. He was known as a leading proponent of engraving in France during the nineteenth century.

Bresdin's early life was tumultuous. His high-low birth was said to have been reflected in his odd personality. In 1848, at the age of 23, his family abandoned him in Paris after a family fight; and he walked back from Paris to Toulouse (about 365 miles) alone with a rabbit as a friend. The rabbit would appear in many of Bresdin's etchings. Once in Toulouse, Bresdin lived in a make-shift hut where h...