Intaglio

In intaglio, the deeper parts of the plate are printed. These parts are scratched or cut into the plate or etched into it with the help of acid. For printing, the plate is inked and wiped clean, so that the ink remains only in the deeper areas. The inked plate is printed on humid paper with a press.

History

The development of intaglio is connected to the work of goldsmiths and the beginning paper production in the 15th century. Cutting lines in metal and inking this lines was well known and was, maybe for documenting designs, combined with transferring them to paper. From that is was only a small step to the use of this technique as an artist medium of multiplication.
The first prints were engravings and emerged probably in the 1430ies. In engraving, the lines are cut out of the plate with steel burins. So, printing with metal developed some decades after the beginning of woodblock printing, probably because this technique was more complicated than woodblock printmaking, which had come from earlier development stages as cutting stamps. The motifs of this time were religious and secular.
The early engraving of the German speaking countries emerged in the south-western corner of Germany and Switzerland. The engravers, which in the beginning were mostly goldsmiths, are not known by name. Excellent engravings were done by the "Master of Playing Cards", whose masterpiece was a beautiful card game, and the so called "Master E.S.".
After a while, artists were using this technique, too, like the painter Martin Schongauer. The German engravers leaned in their designs on the images of the middle age. Clearly differing from this were the Italian engravings of the Renaissance from artists as Andrea Mantegna und Maso Finiguerra. Important engravers of the Netherlands were Hendrik Goltzius and Lucas van Leyden.

In the second half of the 15th century the technique of drypoint emerged, which means to scratch lines into the plate with a sharp needle. This technique allowed to work more easily. The prints of the "Master of the Housebook", who was working between 1465 and 1500 in Germany, are considered the first prints done this way. A disadvantage of drypoint was that it was not possible to print high editions from these plates. So this technique was mostly used for working on already cut or etched plates.

As in woodblock printmaking, Albrecht Dürer (1471-1528) from Nürnberg was a prominent artist of engraving. From travelling to Italy he was familiar with the Renaissance engravings and brought the German engraving to a new level. He was also working in a new technique, etching, which developed in the end of the 15th century. Etching made it possible to work more spontaneously, as lines had not be cut in elaborate work into the plate, but were drawn into a thin wax layer on the plate. The plate then was put into an acid bath, where the acid ate up the metal where it had been removed before. First artists using this technqiue were Urs Graf from Switzerland and Daniel Hopfer from Augsburg.

In the 17th and 18th century etching was practiced by many painters as Rembrandt and Claude Lorrain, later by Tiepolo and Piranesi, while engraving was used mostly for copying already existing paintings, for illustrating books and producing maps. Probably in the middle of the 17th century the technique of aquatinta came up, which made it possible to create areas of different shades by etching, but it needed one more century to become well-known. A master of this technique was Francisco de Goya, painter at the Spanish court, who expressed the dark side of the Spanish society of that time in his "Caprichos".

With the invention of photography and lithography engraving lost meaning. Intaglio became an independent art form, which was popular because it made it possible to collect art at low prices. In the 19th century intaglio was done f.e. by the artists of the French "Barbizon School", in the 20th century by Käthe Kollwitz, the German expressionists, Picasso and many others.

Technique

Engraving

With burins from steel lines are cut into the plate. The metal which builds up beside the cut line is later removed with a scraper.

Drypoint

Drypoint is the easiest and most direct method. With a sharp needle the drawing is scratched directly into the plate. This way the metal builds up to a burr on both sides of the depression. The printed line has a special soft and deep character.

Etching

The plate is laminated with an even layer of wax or varnish. By drawing lines into this layer, the metal is set free. In the acid bath the acid bites and so deepens these lines. The longer the plate is etched, the deeper the line and the darker the printed line will be.

Soft Ground (Vernis Mou)

The plate is covered with a layer of a special wax, which does not harden but stays soft, and a thin paper is put on it. Now it is possible to draw on this paper with different drawing tools like pencil or crayon. The wax sticks to the back of the paper and the metal is set free. The plate can be etched and printed. The characteristics of the drawing tools used show clearly in the print.

Aquatint

For etching even tones, fine asphalt or rosin dust is applied to the plate and melted with heat to create fine acid-resistant grains. Today this is also done by spraying acrylic liquid to the plate. While etching the acid bites between the grains. Depending on the time of etching these depressions are more or less deep, which means that they can hold more or less ink. Areas which should not etch longer are covered with acid-resistant varnish. For etching regular tones the plates is etched in an acid bath. It is also possible to paint with acid on the applied grains, which creates more irregular tones. This is called "spit bite aquatint".

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