Carl Brenner could be considered Kentucky's first professional landscape painter, working from the early 1870s until his death in 1888 at the age of 49. Based in Louisville, he traveled throughout the commonwealth and into the West. As a painter of the 1880s, Brenner was aware of the movement known as the American Etching Revival, which had its inception in the 1876 Philadelphia Centennial Exposition. The artists involved in the resurgence of print-making were known as painter-etchers because they worked in both media. Brenner was Kentucky's foremost painter-etcher. In 1874 he sold a major oil to the Corcoran Gallery of Art in Washington, D.C., and the Corcoran acquired a collection of Brenner etchings. Brenner wasn't the only Kentucky painter-etcher. Working a few years later, Paul Sawyier was painting in watercolor and oil and producing etchings of Frankfort and the neighboring area. Comparing the etching styles of the two artists is a fascinating study. Kentucky was lucky to have two major artists working in copper during the etching revival of the late 19th century.