La Madeleine, Troyes

As a youth Axel Haig was fascinated with the sea and ships and spent much of his time sketching seascapes and building model boats. He studied shipbuilding and design but grew tired of it and shifted to architecture. After being given the opportunity to design a residence for his employer in Glasgow, Scotland, the result was so successful that Haig was offered a job at a firm that specialized in church design. Later Haig was employed by William Burges, a noted Gothic Revival architect, and he became one of the most noted architectural draughtsmen in Britain.

Haig always distinguished between architectural drawings and drawings of architecture. In all of his etchings his goal was to achieve a balance between romantic and dramatic effect, while depicting the subject as accurately as possible.