Journal

The Intaglio Printers,1642 by Abraham Bosse (French, Tours 1602/04–1676 Paris) Harris Brisbane Dick Fund, 1926 The discovery of intaglio engraving is traditionally credited to Maso Finiguerra, a Florentine goldsmith from the 15th century. Finiguerra's craft involved creating 'nielli'—silver plates engraved with a design and filled with a black metal alloy called 'nigellium.' While the niello's original purpose was to create a bl

The tool used for this technique is a steel half-moon equipped with fine teeth: this tool is used to trace a series of densely packed criss-cross marks onto the plate until a uniformly marked surface is obtained which, when printed, would produce a black background. At this point, a second tool is used: the burnisher, which is used to press down on the marks to varying degrees, obtaining a full range of grey tones, right up to white. Maniera nera, Encyclopédie Diderot et d'Al

The matrix is usually a copper or zinc plate, but other metals can also be used. The plate, which has been thoroughly degreased, is completely covered with a bituminous paint that makes it resistant to acids. The design is traced onto the painted plate with a steel point: where the point passes, the paint is removed and the metal is exposed. Obviously, points of different shapes can be used to obtain different types of marks. Once the design is complete, the plate is immersed

This technique is used to achieve chiaroscuro effects. This result is achieved by sprinkling a resinous powder (rosin) onto the plate free of bituminous paint, which is then made to adhere by heating the matrix. The powder melts with the heat, leaving a small space between each grain where the acid will bite. Here too, graduated bites, different gauges and types of powder can be used to obtain different grain sizes. Marino Marini: Guerriero,1971 - acquaforte acquatinta There

XYLOGRAPHY is the oldest graphic technique used to reproduce copies of drawings and inscriptions. Once the design has been traced or transferred onto a wooden tablet, the matrix, special tools are used to remove the parts that do not form part of the image, leaving the figures and their outlines in relief; for this reason, it is also known as the relief technique. The sheet of paper is placed on the duly inked matrix and, through pressure, the image is imprinted on it, mirror

The third engraving technique is planographic printing: LITHOGRAPHY. While it is very difficult or almost impossible to pinpoint a precise date of origin for woodcut and intaglio printing, we have both an inventor and a date for lithography. In 1796, Aloys Senefelder began using a particular type of limestone to print images. The process is very simple: this stone has the property of retaining grease when dry and repelling it when wet, so on perfectly smooth and dry matrices,

A brief mention of this type of printing, whose main technique is lithography. Lithography is based on the principle of water repellency. The matrix (Bavarian stone or zinc) is drawn with a greasy pencil and then treated with solutions of gum arabic, acid and water. In its final state, the drawn part will be able to retain the ink; the undrawn part, suitably wet, will repel the ink. Printing is carried out using a special press. Lithograph made from a polished limestone matri

Andy Warhol in his studio (The Factory) in New York. Screen printing became one of the main means of expression in Pop Art. Artistic SERIGRAPHY (since it had been practised for centuries in China for serial use) also has well-known origins: in the mid-17th century, the Japanese artist Some Ya Yu Tzen invented the permeographic process, which would only become known to the world in the mid-19th century through the British, under the name of serigraphy. The process is elementar