A leading etcher during the 19th -century French etching revival, Jules Jacquemart was widely admired for his reproductive etchings of old master paintings and objects d’art published in journals, books and albums and for original etched compositions published by Alfred Cadart (1828-1875). Critics and artists of his day thought Jacquemart and Félix Bracquemond (1833-1914) were the two best etchers of their time.

He received early training from his father Albert Jacquemart (1808-1875), a collector and painter and the head clerk of the Ministry of Finance. His artistic debut came in 1859 with the publication of illustrations of objects d’art in the Gazette des Beaux-Arts, a collaboration that would last for most of his life. In that journal and in L’Art Jacquemart illustrated a variety of works of art held in private collections and in the Louvre. He published 60 etched plates in the Gazette, along with numerous drawings and sketches.