uring
the 1510s Italian and German printmakers began to develop the technique
of etching. A steel or copperplate is coated with varnish, paint, or
wax. This is known as the "etching ground." The artist then draws with
a stylus, scraping through the ground to the metal surface. When the
plate is bathed in acid the exposed lines are bitten away to create
channels for the printing ink. Unlike the demanding and highly specialized
skill of engraving, making an etching is comparable to the more familiar
practice of drawing. Hence, the technique was readily accessible to
the draftsman and perfectly adapted to replicating a drawing style.
Because of the relative ease in execution artists began to use etching
as a means of distributing much more informal expressions of their ideas.
In this respect etching played an important role in generating a taste
for drawings as works of art. From the beginning we find etchings that
are highly experimental, and many that reflect pictorial inventions
of a spontaneous and seemingly unfinished character.
uring
the 1510s Italian and German printmakers began to develop the technique
of etching. A steel or copperplate is coated with varnish, paint, or
wax. This is known as the "etching ground." The artist then draws with
a stylus, scraping through the ground to the metal surface. When the
plate is bathed in acid the exposed lines are bitten away to create
channels for the printing ink. Unlike the demanding and highly specialized
skill of engraving, making an etching is comparable to the more familiar
practice of drawing. Hence, the technique was readily accessible to
the draftsman and perfectly adapted to replicating a drawing style.
Because of the relative ease in execution artists began to use etching
as a means of distributing much more informal expressions of their ideas.
In this respect etching played an important role in generating a taste
for drawings as works of art. From the beginning we find etchings that
are highly experimental, and many that reflect pictorial inventions
of a spontaneous and seemingly unfinished character.