Intaglio / Engraving & Etching 16th – 18th Century
Intaglio Printing
Opposite of letterpress
Games name from Italian tagliare or intagliare to cut or cut into
First prints date from mid 15c
Letterpress uses a Platen, meanwhile Intaglio uses felt of different compressible qualities to
press the ink onto the paper.
Plate mark is quite noticeable – through a rolling system – applied pressure to a small area
Press
Early presses made from wood
Cast iron presses from 18c
Metal elements added to them due to advancements in tech over time
Using hands and feet to move the rollers (before advancements were made)
Drypoint – most accessible way of making image on copperplate
Thin, delicate image
Burs reduce number of prints if not removed
Rembrandt used burs to great effect
Dragging a point through copper, creating rough edges which are then brushed away.
Engraving
Special tool used Burin – requires the skills of an engraver – 10cm long and fits in
hand easily. – needs re-sharping regularly
Gained popularity in late 15c.
Different ranges of marks that can be made.
Pushing the tool away from us – an engravers skill – not accessible to most
Making curved lines – pushing knife away but rotating metal as you go
Light areas of engraving can be polished and recut if a mistake has been made
Beat plate behind with small rounded hammer if mistake is made in the middle of the
piece
Adding Tone
Martin Shogauer
Delicate strokes
Short dashes
Cross hatching
Andrea Mantegna
Short strokes varying in width and depth
Mezzotint
Process for applying textures to a plate.
Ludwig Von Siegen
Earliest example from 1642
Tool called a rocker.
Creates a plate with a roughened surface.
‘Rock’ the tool from the width of the plate.
Burs are compressed in the printing process
Etching and Aquatint
Practiced in Northern Germany
Didn’t become popular until around the 18th century.
Soft ground etching – acid resist called a ‘ground’ melted and applied to the plate and
worked with various tools.
Lithography
The lithographic process differs in three ways:
Not a development of a previously known process.
We know when, where and by who it was invented.
The printing surface itself.
Doesn’t rely in a difference is levelled surfaces
Using limestone sitting on the same level
Alois Senefelder founded and introduced lithography in 1798
Accidental discovery – wrote a list on the limestone, creating a reaction between the ink and
the stone. Greasy ink reacted with stone.
Blue and Yellow stones
Levigator, used with different grades of carborundum grit and water.
Ground stone is ready to accept image.
Crayons
Pen nibs
Chalk can be rubbed.
Different textures can be created.
Not dependent on an engraver – artists can work directly onto the stone.
Henry Matisse litho crayon
Processing the image
Slow process
Create 2 states
Oleo manganate of lime
Calcium arabonate
The Process
Stone needs to sit for 2-4 hours
Brushing Rosin and talc together – acting as an acid resist
Gum Arabic and nitric acid – mix together to establish non-printing areas. – sits tightly
against the image that has been made on the stone.
Gum etch – converts the stone itself
Gum the stone
Wash out – take white spirit and wash out pigment of drawing material.
Re-establish image using Asphaltum
Roll with water which will be rejected by greasy image and let this sit for 2-4 hours.
Process can be repeated.
Pole Press
Brisket and metal sheet
Pole swings out
Spread of the process
Senefelder
Johan Andre
[Link]
D.J. Redman
Rudolph Ackerman
Charles Hullmandel
Process didn’t change much during the Napoleonic War.
Single-colour tint with highlights – came in and out of trend.
11 colour registration
