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Born at Berkeley Castle, Gloucestershire, into an artistic family. His mother was a niece of Thomas Gainsborough and his father a prebendary of Hereford Cathedral. At sixteen, he was apprenticed to line engraver Charles Heath. Lane worked as an engraver for several years before turning his attention to the lithographic method of printmaking. He first exhibited at the Royal Academy in 1824 and was elected an associate engraver three years later. Lane specialised in portraiture; he produced hundreds of portraits of royalty, actors, artists and other notable society members. Queen Victoria appointed him royal lithographer in 1837.